Hiya everyone! So, did people enjoy that last chapter, 'cause I know I did!
Just an extra note, the start of this chapter is on the same night as the ending of the last chapter. I'll probably put this up for a week before moving the start to the previous chapter, just so that it makes more sense and works better with the time skip. :p
So, yeah, enjoy!
Disclaimer: If I owned Fairy Tail, Levy definitely would've made out good and proper with Gajeel rather than just mouth-to-mouth!
Warning: Language and cute friendship fluff! Naw…how cute!
3rd Person P.O.V.
Natsu could smell salt when he leapt up to the open window. His feet tapped down precariously on the windowsill with barely a sound, but still his main focus was the overpowering smell of salt that was linked back to sadness.
Lucy was still crying.
It wasn't the full on sobs that had wracked her body when she had been taken out of the guild earlier on by Elfman, disappearing for the rest of the day at the Strauss sibling's house. No. It was a mere shimmer on her cheeks in the dark, lit by the moonlight from the window that Natsu was mostly blocking now.
He looked down at the still form of the blonde that was currently tucked in bed on her back, with her fur blanket pulled up to her chin and her eyes staring blankly up at the ceiling.
It looked like someone – Mirajane most likely judging by the faint scent of perfume still lingering in the room – had tucked the blonde in to sleep, but Lucy had completely ignored those orders and had decided that she would spend her night staring up at the same white ceiling that she saw every morning that she woke up.
"Luce?" Came the hesitant whisper from Natsu as he crouched on the windowsill, the tips of his sandals being the only support for his current pose, along with the hands that gripped either side of the window.
The whites of Lucy's eyes expanded as she rolled her eyes towards her intruder, eyes blankly staring at him. She didn't speak a word, simply stared at him like she had been expecting him to come, and was now expecting him to do something.
So Natsu spoke.
"Look, Luce, I'm really sorry for being so insensitive earlier on and…" Natsu took a heaving breath, unsure as to how he could apologise for being an idiot for not knowing what destruction he caused people when he destroyed their homes. "There's really nothing I can say that would make this better, is there?" He rubbed his eyes tiredly with one hand, still wondering why he was over at his nakama's house at one in the morning when he could've just waited a few more hours to see her at the guild. But people did call him impatient.
"It's okay, Natsu." Lucy's voice sounded husky and tired, like she had either not used it for a while or she had been crying so much that she had worn her voice out. "Really, it's okay. You're still young, so you have yet to learn these things." The blonde finally moved, rolling onto her side to look more closely at her friend. "I was just being insensitive."
Natsu wrinkled his nose in answer and gave off a mocking scowl. "Hey! I'm not that young! Besides," he pointed at the blonde accusingly, "you're younger than I am! So how can you talk like you're older than me?"
A dry, humourless chuckle escaped Lucy's lips, something that Natsu hadn't expected. He had wanted Lucy to laugh, like a normal laugh, to make everything seem like it was alright with her, just for a moment. But Lucy's eyes were faintly amused as she peered at Natsu, a slightly sick amusement, but amusement all the same. "Haven't you ever heard the expression; wizened soul look through tired eyes?" Her voice was stronger as she spoke, apparently life was being breathed into her as she spoke. "Where's Happy?"
"Coming," Natsu said shortly. "He was tired when I accidentally woke him up, so he was having a snack before he came over."
"You make it sound like you're coming to stay over," Lucy said, real amusement colouring her voice. "Who the hell said you could?"
"But, Lucy," whined Natsu piteously. "C'mon! Help a guy out here!"
Lucy let out a suffering sigh before she pulled the side of her blankets that was closest to the window down. "I guess you better get comfortable while you're here and I'm too tired to argue anyways. I'm not in the mood for talking and I'm quite sleepy, you can just sleep over."
"Yes!" Natsu pumped his fist and made a move to jump into Lucy's super soft bed, but her hand that was up in a 'stop' gesture made him pause. "What now?"
"Shoes off," Lucy said briskly, "I'm not having dirt trod into my clean sheets."
Natsu let out a sound of discontentment before obligingly leaping over Lucy and her bed to alight on her bedroom floor. He tugged off his sandals and kicked them to the side, assured that he would eventually find them in the morning, before jumping back over Lucy to flop down on his side of the bed.
The bed trembled and Lucy growled as the wooden bedpost creaked ominously. "Don't you dare try and break my bed, idiot."
Natsu screwed up his face as he slid in under the blanket next to Lucy. "Why would I want to do that? I like sleeping in this bed, so why would I destroy it if I want to sleep in it?"
"Touché," Lucy mumbled through a jaw-creaking yawn as she burrowed deeper into the blanket, body tilted towards Natsu. "Touché, Dragneel." The second comment was fainter as Lucy began to drift off, eyes dropping and stressed facial features finally smoothing out after the past week of hell.
"Night, Lucy," Natsu said through one of his own yawns as he put his arms behind his head, mindful of not bumping his elbow into the blonde's head. "Don't let the bed bugs bite."
A snort came from Lucy and she peered up at him dozily as she curled up tighter. "Really, Natsu? Are you going to say something as childish and cliché as that?"
"Hey," defended Natsu, "me and Happy say it every night before we go to sleep!"
"Happy and I," corrected Lucy absently as her eyes went to her open window. "And how much longer until Happy gets here?"
Natsu sniffed the air before pausing as his brain catalogued the scents that his sensitive nose picked up. "Uh, he'll be here in about a minute or two. He's flying towards here, I think, judging by how fast his scent is approaching."
There was no reply from Lucy as she was content to just lie there until Happy came. Natsu respected her silence and quietly lay there, eyes tracing the ceiling, just like Lucy had done minutes ago.
"Natsu! Lushy!"
Lucy's eyes which had been drooping in her waiting, dragged open again and looked up to see Happy floating just inside the window, smiling stupidly at them in his sleepy haze. "Hey, Happy, about time you got here."
Happy pouted as he drifted down lazily to alight on Lucy's blanketed hip. "Sorry, but I had to eat a delicious fish before I left, and I don't hurry when there's delicious fish to eat!" Seeing Happy work himself up to defend his favourite dish, Lucy let a fond smile cross her face as she extracted one arm out of the warmth of the blankets to tickle under Happy's stubbornly uplifted chin. "Aw, that's okay, Happy. You're here now, so we can all finally go to sleep." Lucy went off into another yawn, not bothering to cover her mouth.
"Yeah," agreed Natsu, unlatching his arms from behind his head so that he could sit up and pick his partner up. "C'mon, Happy, let's go to sleep in Lucy's super soft bed!"
"Aye!" Cheered Happy sleepily as he wriggled out of Natsu's arms. "But I'm going to sleep with Lucy. You always crush me in your sleep!" Natsu yelled in wordless indignation, but Happy ignored him as he crawled over to curl up next to the barely awake Lucy.
The blonde registered the warmth curled next to her arms that were currently drawn up to her chest and grabbed the exceed so that she could cuddle him to her chest, taking comfort in the heat that Happy gave off.
Happy gave off something akin to a purr in answer as he settled into the blonde's arms, tail wrapping around her wrists.
Seeing Lucy's eyes close and Happy beginning to doze off, Natsu gave a shrug before flopping back down onto the bed, arms and legs spread out as Lucy didn't take up much room on her side of the bed since she curled up quite tightly. He lay there for a moment, trying to get to sleep, but he couldn't. Wondering what was bothering him so much, Natsu opened his eyes and sat up as he looked around for what was bothering him.
Seeing nothing out of the ordinary in Lucy's neat room, Natsu crossed his arms and pouted. "What the hell is wrong?" He scanned the room once more before his gaze locked on Happy and Lucy's cuddling forms. "That's it! It's so unfair!" Natsu exclaimed to himself not noticing that his loud voice was waking Lucy up again. "They get to cuddle and I don't!" He nodded sagely before lying back down and scooting himself closer to Lucy and Happy. His left arm went around the top of Lucy's shoulders to drag her closer, mindful of not squishing Happy when he pulled them.
Lucy opened her eyes into slits and observed (with no limit of amusement) Natsu slipping his right arm under her to pull both her and Happy to his chest. Completely fine with this, Lucy hugged Happy tighter and snuggled into the contact, surprising Natsu with her sudden movements. "Are you awake, Luce?"
"Mn," she mumbled, "but not for long." Her eyes slid shut again and she relaxed completely, sleep already darkening her vision.
Natsu stared down at his friend and long-time partner before shrugging and closing his eyes as well. He propped Lucy's head under his chin and slowly let sleep take over his consciousness, content with the fact that one of his nakama wasn't so sad anymore.
3rd Person P.O.V.
I hummed to myself as I carefully stitched up a tear in my usual battle top, currently decked out in a ragged, black tank top and orange shorts as my hoodie and other shorts were in the wash. I squinted one eye as I carefully poked the needle through the silk cloth, pulling the needle through along with the silk string that Lyra had provided me with from the Spirit world.
Sure, Lyra could probably provide me with all of my clothes from the Spirit world, but I preferred to earn my clothes and wear them out myself. It also felt like I was abusing my spirits power when they provided me with stuff. Although, I was happy to have such amazing materials to use when I fixed my clothes. I didn't want to tarnish all of the hard work that went into my clothes from my spirits.
"How are you going, Lucy-chan?" Asked Lyra from where she was strumming her lyre on my windowsill, fluttering wings hanging out of the window. She was absently playing random tunes on her lyre, but they all sounded amazing, and apparently the people outside thought so, too, as they often stopped and stood out my window, listening to the sweet notes echoing from the apartment window above them.
"I'm going great, Lyra," I replied, quickly stitching two more cross-stiches. "I should be done in another couple of minutes."
"Great," came a voice from behind me, "I was hoping you'd be done shortly."
Letting out a short shriek of surprise, I stabbed the needle into my thumb in my flailing movements to turn around and see just who the fuck was in my apartment now. "Shit!"
"Oh crap," Gray said as he stood up from where he was lounging on my couch, half-naked. "Did you just hurt yourself? Crap. I'm sorry."
"No," I waved off his apologies with my good hand, the other being inspected with squinted eyes. "The needle's only gone into my thumb a little bit, there's barely any blood."
"But there's still blood!" Screeched Lyra as she fluttered in a flurry of vengeance towards Gray, lyre raised threateningly. "How dare you hurt Lucy-chan!"
"No!" Came the duel shout from Gray and I as Lyra began to swing her precious lyre at Gray.
"Have mercy!" Gray ducked a particularly vicious swing, feet stumbling as he tried to get away from my wrathful spirit.
Wow, that sounded odd. Wrathful spirit. My wrathful spirit…It always sounds like I'm talking about my own spirit when I refer to my spirits; as in, spirits that I regularly summon from their own plane of existence…Plane of existence. Plane; a vehicle that flies, but also a layer of reality…
This is getting weird. I'm stopping now before I get myself confused.
I came out of my thoughts to see Gray running around my living room, Lyra still chasing him and occasionally whacking him over the head with her lyre, accompanied by sharp twangs from the instruments strings and shouts of rage from her. "How dare you hurt my summoner!"
"Oh my god! It's like another Erza!"
I had to stifle a laugh at the comical scene before me. It was like an old Looney Tunes cartoon, featuring my favourite characters; Wil E Coyote and Road Runner.
"Lyra, calm down," I finally said, "or I'll send you back to the Spirit world."
My spirit stopped – albeit reluctantly – and turned to me with a pout on her face. "Ne, Lucy-chan! You know you can't force summon us back yet! You're-"
"Too soft to force you guys back," I finished for her. "Yeah, yeah I know." Waving off any further comments from Lyra, I turned to Gray with a cheeky smile on my face. "So, Gray, what brings you here on this fine day? Interrupting me and my beloved spirit and our wind down time. Also," I held up my bloody thumb, the needle having been removed. "Hurting poor, innocent, ol' me!"
Gray stared at me incredulously, cradling the bumps on his head. "…Your beloved spirit just tried to kill me! Doesn't that call for at least some concern!"
"Meh," I flapped a hand at him as I cleared up my sowing stuff, "you bitch too much. Now," I turned to him fully, absently sucking on my injured thumb. "What did you come here for?"
"Oh yeah," Gray's expression cleared up, along with the bumps on his head. "I came here to tell you that Natsu and Erza are duking it out down in the street near the guild."
I frowned at this; Natsu hadn't challenged Erza at the station like he did in the series, so what had brought this on? I voiced my question to Gray, and he scowled before answering. "Ash-for-brains thinks that if he challenges Erza, he'll prove, 'once and for all,' he says, that he's better than Erza." He chuckled lightly, "I just want to see him get mauled by Erza." His arm shot out and grabbed my wrist, "so, if we want to see Natsu get beaten into a pulp, like he should, we should head out." Without waiting for my consent, Gray began dragging me towards my front door, unknowingly dragging me right into the path of my chest-of-draws.
"Yow," I instinctively yelped as my bare feet hit the wooden edge of the draws, pulling the toes back in that painful way that makes you feel like you've just nicked a piece of lego.
"Oh crap," Gray cursed. Again. "I just hurt you again, didn't I? Man, I'm sorry."
"It's no biggie," I said as I unlatched myself from his grip to go find some sort of footwear. "But I bet it is for Lyra." I gave off a round of evil laughter as I heard Gray curse again before a resounding twang came from behind me as I disappeared into my cupboard to find a pair of shoes.
"OH MAVIS! NOT THE FACE!"
"BASTARD! GET BACK HERE!"
I was making dinner when it happened.
Really, I had been expecting it for while now since the incident with Erza and Natsu's fight had happened a couple of hours ago, but it was still surprising to see Natsu and Happy come vaulting through my open window, a piece of paper fluttering from Happy's paws.
Well, the whole part of Natsu and Happy jumping through my window wasn't surprising. They did it basically every day and I had gotten used to it fairly quickly. No, what had surprised me was the fact that the next 'arc' was beginning.
Fucking joy. I got to go to a scary, cursed island and fix their shit up.
But on the plus side, I would get Sagittarius.
Cool bananas.
"Lucy! Lucy!" Called Natsu excitedly as he crashed into my kitchen from my bedroom. "We got something awesome for you!"
"If it's another flaming piece of food that you proclaim is 'edible and extremely delicious,' I'll drop kick you in the nuts." I calmly pulled my dinner of Shepard's pie out of the oven, knowing already that a meal of flaming food wasn't the case of Natsu and Happy's visit tonight.
I heard a start of a reply come from Natsu before it trailed off in a slobbery sound. Gross. "That smells so gooood, Luce," drooled Natsu as an answer as he flopped down at my dinner table, completely uninvited and now focused on the prospect of food rather than what he came here for.
"Is there any fish?" Asked Happy hopefully as he clambered up onto the top of the second-hand, dented, wooden table that was where I ate my food.
Placing the dish with the meal in it on a chopping board and placing it down on the table with two plates, I replied. "Yes, I have a fish for you, Happy. And, no, you can't just use your hands to eat straight out of the dish, Natsu. I'll dish it out for us both. Evenly." I smiled at the moan of defeat and the yell of happiness that came behind me as I fetched a fish for Happy out of the fridge, where I had already stocked a whole section of assorted fish for the exceed.
Okay, so I may occasionally spoil my friends by cooking them dinner and letting them sleep over – and in my bed, no less – but, I mean, why wouldn't I? I never really had friends growing up, with moving around all the time and all, and only felt useful to Natsu and Happy while in battle or when being hospitable to them.
So cooking it was!
And, besides, I don't get how Lucy could kick them out of her apartment all the time. I genuinely found Natsu and Happy's antics funny, and their tales of their endeavours was fucking hilarious! Why would I be so rude as to kick them out, even if they did come in uninvited?
And to argue against that, I did always have my window open, or at least, unlocked.
Humming happily to myself, I directly handed Happy his trout before cutting into the Shepard's pie, hot steam coming out of the potato and cheese topped mess of mince, peas and carrots when the knife bit into it.
Natsu was really drooling when I slid him a plate full of the meal, and, at a glare from me, he grabbed his utensils before digging in.
Calmly picking up my own spoon, I dug into the meal as well, thankful of the years cooking meals for me and my little sister when my parents worked late. And Lyra. Thank Kami for Lyra with her amazing cooking skills, teaching me all sorts of little tricks and tips.
"Fhunks, Lushy!" Mumbled Natsu through a mouthful of potato, already nearly finished with his portion of dinner. He swallowed and gave me a messy grin. "You're the best!"
"I'm equally glad that you enjoyed my meal and remembered my request of thanking those who give you food," I commented quietly, watching my two friends devour their meals. "And it's my pleasure to cook you guy's dinner. Occasionally," I added when I noticed Natsu and Happy's devious looks. "I'll only occasionally cook you guy's dinner. Okay?"
Natsu sighed sufferingly, "how could you be so mean, Lucy?"
"How about you cook me a meal for once?" I fired back easily. "You do realise that, even though I don't spend money on frivolous things, I do have trouble maintaining rent, buying myself groceries each week and feeding you guys on top of that?"
A look of remembrance came over Happy and I could almost see the light bulb going off above his head. "That's it! That's what we forgot!"
"What's you and Lucy forgot?" Asked Natsu as he looked up from where he was licking my plate clean. I absently slapped him on the hand, making him yelp and put the plate back down, before gesturing Happy to continue. "What did you forget, Happy?"
The blue exceed pulled out a flyer from his green knapsack and held it up for me to see. "This!"
"Oh yeah!" Natsu slammed one of his fists into the palm of his other hand. "That!"
"What is it?" I asked dryly, taking the flyer from Happy with his permission. Scanning the flyer quickly, I nodded in all of the right places, making a show of reading it so that Natsu and Happy thought that I was reading it for the first time, even though I had already seen it many times before while watching the show.
Finishing reading it, I carefully placed the flyer down on the table before gathering all of the plates and utensils to put them into the sink to be washed. I ran the hot water and pulled some detergent from under the sink, filling up the sink with soapy, warm water.
"Well?" Natsu asked impatiently. "What do you think? Laxus said that I was too weak to be an S-class, so Happy grabbed this mission so that we can prove him wrong!"
Glancing up from where I was washing Natsu's plate, I locked gazes with Natsu's puppy eyes. 'Oh crap! Not this again!' Looking away, my gaze now fell on Happy, who was looking at me with tears in his eyes and a pout on his face.
"Guys," I sighed before covering my eyes with sudsy hands. "Please stop. You know I can't handle the puppy eyes. Or, kitty eyes in Happy's case," I added thoughtfully onto the end. "Just, please stop it."
I jolted in surprise when warm hands pried my wet ones off my face. I was then subjected to having an extreme close-up of Natsu's pleading onyx eyes. And let me tell you, having an extreme close-up of Natsu's puppy eyes made me cave quicker than quicksand on a bad day; not like I was going to say no in the first place.
"Yes, I'll go," I conceited, before squeaking at how Natsu, instead of jumping back and yelling in victory like I thought he would, swept me up into a massive bear hug, possibly popping a lot of air bubbles in my back as he did so. "Gah! Let me go, Natsu!"
"Thanks, Luce!" Cheered the boy as he rudely dropped me on my backside, "we'll get this done in no time at all!"
"Aye sir!" Happy posed on the table, one hand on his hip and the other pointed towards my window. "Let's get a good head start, Captain Natsu!"
"Roger that, Crewman Happy!" Both Natsu and Happy leapt for the window, before pausing with one foot (or paw, in Happy's case) out to look back at me expectantly.
"Well, Lucy?" Asked Natsu expectantly. "Are you coming or not?"
Standing up, I wiped my hands calmly on my dishcloth before resuming my scrubbing of the dishes. "We're leaving tomorrow morning."
"What?!" Natsu and Happy yelled together. "No!" Natsu childishly stamped his foot as he leapt back inside my apartment, Happy gliding in beside him. "We're going to leave now!"
Placing the last dish aside and fetching my drying cloth, I answered. "No, we're not leaving now. It's nine at night, I'm tired, and there's no way in hell I'm leaving to go stay in some hotel tonight when I can simply stay here tonight and get up early in the morning. It's illogical and I'm not doing it."
"But, Lucy!" Natsu whined, flopping back down in his seat at my table.
Oh yeah, I was already winning this argument! Natsu should just admit defeat to the great Tia! He can never get past me! Unless he uses the puppy eyes again…But I can hold him off! I have a will of iron! Most of the time…
"But, Lucy," I mimicked back in the same whingey tone, making Natsu huff and turn his head away in indignation. "Just head home, Natsu, Happy, and get prepared for tomorrow. I'll meet you at the train station at say…five o'clock?"
There was a choking sound behind me.
"Five?" Happy moaned. "You mean five in the afternoon, right, Lucy?"
I snickered and began to put away the now-clean dishes. "No, I don't mean in the afternoon, I mean at night. But," I shrugged my shoulders as I closed the last cupboard, "if you think that it's too early for a little kid and kitten like you guys, I guess we can go around eight. Surely then, you kiddies will be up from your nap so we can leave."
"We can get up then!" Shouted Natsu, standing up from the chair and making it clatter slightly from the motion of his action. "We're not babies!"
"Aye!"
Hiding a smile – these two were too easy – I turned to face an offended looking Natsu and Happy. "Well, if you're sure you can handle it…"
"We'll show you!" Happy shouted. "We're not kittens!"
"Happy, I'm not a cat!" Natsu frowned at his partner in confusion. "I'm no cat, so why would I be a kitten?!"
"Your hair is as soft as a kitten's fur," I remarked as I breezed past him, ruffling his hair as I went. "Well, it's been a pleasure boys, but I'm tired, so could you kindly exit?" I gestured to the window, rather anxious now to brush my teeth, jump into my pyjamas and get to bed. Dealing with these two could get rather tiring at times, you know?"
"Okay then." Natsu gave me a cheery wave before bouncing off my bed to get to my windowsill, ignoring my enraged shout at how 'your bloody shoes will dirty my bed! How many times have I told you not to wear your sandals inside?!' He gave me a wicked grin, "I can't how many times, but I'm sure it won't be the last!"
Happy cackled as he flew past me, grabbing onto Natsu's scarf as he jumped out of the window, making him rise back up to eye-level with my window and me. "Bye Lucy!" Happy wagged his tail at me, Natsu waving goodbye as well below him before the two disappeared in a fluttering of wings and flapping of loose, white pants.
"Night guys," I whispered to the empty room before deciding that I would rather pack my bag now than after brushing my teeth and getting my pyjamas on.
Something about getting ready for bed always made me tired.
3rd Person P.O.V.
A set jaw-cracking yawns echo through the port city of Hargeon as our characters set off to find a boat to take them to the 'cursed' Galuna island, where their mission was set.
It was now eight in the morning, and both Natsu and Happy still hadn't woken up completely. They had nearly been late in arriving at the train station that morning, both of them not having packed their bags before they got there.
So, they had barely arrived before five, to find their teammate had already bought their tickets and was calmly waiting for them on a nearby bench, looking like she had a great night sleep consisting of nine hours straight up.
Naturally, both Natsu and Happy resented her for it.
"Come on, boys!" Lucy called to the drowsy, yawning males that dragged their feet behind her. "Now's the perfect time to find a boat and head out to Galuna island! The sun is out, the breeze is strong," the blonde stopped in the middle of the street they were walking along in order to breathe in the fresh, sea air. "And though I may not like the ocean that much, it seems fair conditions! Perfect for sailing!"
"Ugh," Natsu looked to Happy who was currently rubbing his eyes as he walked beside him. "Why does she have to be so goddamn cheery in the mornings? I mean, she didn't even look tired this morning!"
"Aye," Happy said without his usual amount of enthusiasm. "Lucy's weird like that."
"Hurry up!" Lucy skipped back to seize Natsu's hand and tug him forward, snickering when the boy tripped over his feet. "You're not very responsive in the morning, are you?"
"Five is not morning," defended Natsu, "that's like, night time!"
"Whatever you say," Lucy said dubiously, looking at her companion out of the corner of her eye. "And that was three hours ago, you must be awake now!"
Natsu scrunched his nose up at her expression, purposely slowing down as to annoy her and to let Happy (who was rather irritated at being left behind) catch up with them.
"Why don't you guys wait for me?" Happy wailed as he tried to clamber up Lucy's bare legs, claws digging into the frayed ends of her shorts so that he didn't slide back down again. "You're so mean!"
"Aww," Lucy cooed as she picked the cat up from her belted waist (containing her keys and her sword that was fastened to her side – she would never forget her weapon and friends in a mission as important as this!) and placed him on her head, letting him settle down in front of her ponytail. "Little Happy's legs are too short to keep up are they?" She laughed at the exceed's whines as she and Natsu rounded another corner of the numerous town's streets. "You're too cute, Happy!"
Just then, a sudden tug on the hem of her worn grey t-shirt had her looking across to Natsu. "What's up?"
"Can we go in there and get some food?" Natsu looked between a small café and Lucy's face, eyes pleading but not yet puppy dog's eyes. "I'm hungry!"
Lucy sighed and shrugged off Natsu's grip, walking on ahead while ignoring the pleas of her friend. "We just had breakfast barely an hour ago!"
"But I'm hungry!"
"I'm not stopping you from buying yourself some food!"
"Oh…yeah!"
Lucy rolled her eyes as Natsu darted back to the café to buy some food with his own jewels. "How do you put up with him sometimes?" She asked Happy.
The exceed shrugged from his perch on her head. "Just bear with him, you'll get used to it soon."
"I think I'm pretty used to it by now," Lucy replied, sitting down on a park bench to wait for her nakama. "I mean, I've been here for a month now, I think I know most of Natsu's perks…" 'And I've seen most of them in the anime and manga,' she added silently to herself.
"People can surprise you," was all Happy said.
Lucy hummed absently in agreement, relaxing into the wooden slats of the bench, breathing in the sea air as the sun warmed her skin. 'This…this is what life is all about! For all the complicated things that happen in life,' she let out a soft sigh and closed her eyes, 'it's worth it for simple moments like this…'
"What's up with that weird look, you weirdo?!"
Snapping her eyes open, Lucy death-glared Natsu, who was rudely shoving his face right into hers, chewing loudly on some sort of crumbly pastry, that was, unfortunately for Lucy, crumbling right on to her face.
"Shove off, Natsu," the blonde growled, placing her hand against the boy's face and shoving it back hard enough to make him stumble several steps back. "Hey!"
"Hey yourself," Lucy snapped back easily, standing up and dusting herself off. "Now, if you're done grabbing stuff to shove in your mouth," she eyed the packet of donuts tucked under his arms and the bottle of soft drink dangling from his left hand, "we're going to head out now."
Natsu merely grunted through the giant loaf of bread that he was now chewing the end of.
Sighing Lucy tore half of the loaf off, ignoring Natsu's growls and struggles to keep as much of the loaf in his mouth as possible. "Let's just go now," she said, popping a bit of the still warm bread into her mouth. "We'll find hopefully find a boat that'll take us there and get there around twelve."
Natsu choked down the bread in his mouth. "B-boat? We never said anything about a boat!"
Lucy snickered as she began to walk ahead, Happy's tail swinging merrily behind her. "Then you should learn to listen to me! Know this, Dragneel; I'm always right!"
"Huh," Lucy said to herself as she cast off the small boat alongside Bobo, their captain (and one of the 'cursed' island dwellers). "I guess I'm actually always right."
Natsu was currently already half-unconscious in the barely rocking boat after Lucy had chucked him on when he had attempted to get away, so he couldn't ask what she meant by that. And Happy was too entertained with tickling Natsu's nose with his tail and giggling when the mage couldn't do anything but weakly sneeze and moan.
'I was right in that Gray wouldn't be here yet,' Lucy thought to herself as she leapt lightly onto the boat before the very polite Bobo. 'We probably left a lot earlier than Lucy, Natsu and Happy left in the series, so Mirajane probably hadn't found out about the missing S-class request until an hour or so ago.' The blonde settled herself beside a groaning Natsu who was leaning dangerously overboard, flicking back her red tips so that they didn't tickle her neck. 'I wonder what'll happen now since Gray's not here…'
"Thank you kindly for offering to bring us to Galuna," Lucy said to Bobo who was steering the boat. "I apologise for any inconvenience we have caused you." She then looked to Natsu who was dry heaving over the side of the boat. "And for my friend's…current disposition."
Bobo heaved a deep, rattling laugh that would've scared normal people, but Lucy knew that this man – read; demon – was kind and polite. So she didn't fear him. "That's okay, Lucy-san, it is…" he paused considerably, "well, I wouldn't say pleasure, but…"
"It's quite alright, Bobo-san," Lucy laughed, "I understand what you're implying and am thankful for it. I know of this island's history and reputation. I also…I also think it's totally bull crap."
Bobo looked surprised as he turned from where he was peering at the horizon. "Bull crap, Lucy-san? What do you mean by that, if you don't mind me asking."
Lucy waved off his concerns with a smile, "no, it's perfectly proper. You see," she leaned forward from where she was leaning against the bow of the boat, bracing her elbows against her drawn-up knees. "If I recall correctly, the people of the island believe that they are cursed due to the moon being purple. But, as you can see," Lucy gestured to the sliver of a moon that stood out in ghostly contrast to the bright, blue sky. "The moon is not purple anywhere else, so the moon itself is not the problem. In other places I have heard of the moon changing colour due to natural forces, for example; turning red when in a solar eclipse."
"So, therefore, the catalyst of the colour change is highly likely due to some sort of magic source coming from the island, affecting the moon's image from their point of view since they're in the magic's range." Lucy ended her explanation, looking at Bobo expectantly at his stared back with a blank expression on his face. "Well, Bobo-san?"
"U-um," stammered Bobo, fiddling with the rudder. "I…"
A laugh came from Lucy, "don't worry, Bobo-san, you don't have to answer my theories, I'm putting them out there, that's all." The blonde had to hide a knowing gleam in her eyes as Bobo relaxed in relief, unknowingly shifting his body so that his long cloak covered his demon arm.
A companionable silence fell over the collected group as both Bobo and Lucy were content to stare at the ocean (Lucy was also quite happy to finish of the bottle of soft drink that Natsu hadn't gotten to before they went onto the boat), Happy had fallen asleep on a small bench that the boat provided, and Natsu was too sick to even groan anymore. Something that Lucy was rather happy about.
The serene atmosphere lasted until a dark speck on the horizon began to broaden and gain depth, becoming a heavily forested island.
"Galuna island," Lucy said to no one, smiling up at the form of Bobo that was sneakily flying away, thinking that no one would notice his departure. "Thank you very much, Bobo-san!" She stood up to wave goodbye to the boatman, ignoring Natsu's burbled protests as the boat shook softly.
Bobo startled and looked down to see Lucy waving merrily up at him, not repulsed (or even surprised) to see him flapping above her with his scaly wings and gnarled looking arm. "L-lucy-san?!"
"Don't worry, Bobo-san!" Lucy called out as she grabbed the rudder of the boat. "I'll fix everything for them, and for you! Leave it to me!" She saluted him merrily and Bobo felt a smile crack his face in half. "Thank you, Lucy-san! I'll see you soon!"
Lucy kept saluting him as he disappeared in a flap of his wings and a swish of his lengthy coat. The blonde let out a soft sigh as she held on tightly to the rudder and began to steer the ship gently to shore, not exactly sure of how the small boat worked, either than the mechanics of the rudder. But luckily, the boat made it to shore safely, and Lucy managed to skip off with a still dozing Happy, waiting for Natsu to get out of his motion sickness phase and join them on the shore.
"Ugh," the Dragon Slayer merely groaned as he half hung out of the boat, fingers trailing in the tepid salt water below.
Lucy tutted slightly before placing Happy on her head and leaping back onto the boat, snickering to herself when Natsu groaned even louder at the wild swings the boat made. "You wimp," she said to the other mage as she dragged one of his arms up to drape over her shoulder, huffing at how heavy he was. She then channelled magic to her arms, legs and back so that the muscles there was strengthened, and slowly managed to heave Natsu out of the boat and onto the sand, unknowingly awakening Happy with her stop and start movement.
"L-lucy?" The cat said through a yawn, rubbing one eye with his paw. "Are we there yet?"
"Yeah, Happy," Lucy huffed out as Natsu's feet dragged in the sand, leaving deep furrows behind as their tracks. "We just arrived at Galuna and we're just going to head out to the village where we got the request."
Happy made a sound of acknowledgement before sprouting wings and floating beside her. "Do you want me to take Natsu?"
After looking Happy once over with suspicious eyes (It was Happy, after all), Lucy consented, pushing the dizzy-eyed mage upright so that Happy could latch onto him and make them both hover off the ground. "Do you know how to get there, Lucy?"
"Mn," the blonde said as she pushed ahead in the sand, heading for the ring of forest that lined the pleasant beach they were on. "Bobo-san gave me some very good directions before he left, so I'm going to follow them." She glanced around before seemingly finding what she was looking for and hurrying towards her right, Happy floating after her, wondering when exactly Bobo had left and where he was now.
"This is a tropical forest," Lucy said to Happy as her feet magically found a worn path that wound its way through the steamy forest – really, it was more of a jungle – they had entered. "So keep your eyes out for any strange creatures, and make sure that you don't eat any of the plants; tropical areas are known for their poisonous plants that are usually very misleading." The girl said it nonchalantly, but Happy still shivered, imaging all sorts of creepy things lurky in the shadows of the heavy trees. "A-aye."
"Don't worry, Happy." Lucy turned to the blue cat with a soft smile, stepping over a tree root as she did so. "I'll protect you, no matter what."
Happy sniffled before pouting, "I can take care of myself, Lucy!"
The blonde laughed as she led the way through the tiny trail, the bright sky above blacked out by a tangled canopy of trees. "I know you can, Happy."
The two quietened down after the last comment, content on finding their way through the hot, moist jungle of trees. Lucy intent on finding her way and Happy intent on holding onto a slowly recovering Natsu.
It was around half an hour of trekking, after which Lucy's grey shirt was clinging to her and even Happy was panting a bit, that the trio of Fairy tail mages found themselves in front of a humongous wooden gate, the tips of them sharpened and the whole lot lashed together with rope.
"Wow!" Happy chirped through his exhaustion, lowering Natsu to the ground so that he could take a break in Lucy's waiting arms. "That's huge!"
"Yeah," agreed Lucy as she peered up at the gate that towered over her, "an impressive work of architecture there for such a place with a lack of supplies. Quite impressive indeed."
"You there!" A deep voice rung out, making Lucy and Happy jump with the sudden sound.
Happy let out a squeak. "What was that?!"
Lucy soothed him by dragging her fingers through his fur, eyes trained on the two figures that were just above the tips of the gate, eyes glaring right back. "Hello there! It's a pleasure to make acquaintance with you! My name is Lucy, and I'm with Fairy Tail! My companions and I are here to help you with your 'curse!' May we enter?"
"We need proof of your association with Fairy Tail before you enter!" One of the males called down before he was dragged into a short argument with his friend, both of their eyes constantly darting to their small audience below.
"That's quite alright," Lucy agreed easily, interrupting their fight while one of her hands came off from where it was grasping Happy to grab the collar of her shirt. "My guild mark is here, so there's your proof." She tugged it down low enough so that the red fairy mark could be shown on her collarbone, stark against the lightly tanned skin.
The two guards whispered with each other before nodding to each other, and then Lucy and Happy below. "Alright! We'll let you in now!" One of the guards ducked out of view to face the inside of the gate, towards the village hidden inside. "Open up the gates! We have visitors!"
There was a deep rumbling sound as a mechanism was activated inside, making the gates rise up with a collective groan and shudder.
"Neat," was all Lucy said before she placed Happy on her head and dragged Natsu up into a standing position, draping his arm over her shoulder once more. "Come on, bub, let's get you inside."
Natsu burbled something in reply, his eyes slowly coming into focus from his brief rest on the ground.
"Geez," Lucy said to Happy as she walked into the gates, "wonder why he's got it so bad today? This is the worst I've ever seen him."
"Aye, boats are especially bad for Natsu!" Happy twitched his ears and took in the sight of wooden houses and slowly gathering villagers. "It was made worse by all the rocking you made the boat do!" The cat then covered his mouth with his paws and giggled. "Maybe you should lose some weight, Lucy, if you're rocking the boat that much."
"Maybe you should lose that attitude before I make you lose your tail," Lucy fired back easily, placing Natsu on the ground as she stood in front of the crowd of villagers that had gathered inside the village. "Pleasure to meet you." Lucy bowed deeply to the villagers and, more specifically, the village leader, not minding that Happy was digging his claws into her hair so that he wouldn't slip off. "My name is Lucy, the cat on my head is Happy, and my other companion is Natsu. I beg your pardon for his current disposition as he has motion sickness and is recovering from the boat ride here."
There was some murmuring in the crowd before the tiny man up the front of the crowd stepped forward, the tall staff in his left hand tapping softly against the ground. "Hello, Lucy of Fairy Tail. I am Moka, village leader and the one who requested your assistance."
"An honour to meet you, Moka-sama," Lucy smiled down at the village leader, eyes analysing the way that he wore his robes to cover most of his body. "And I am glad to be of assistance to your plight. I have heard that the moon has turned purple."
Several of the villagers narrowed their eyes at the tint of amusement that Lucy's voice held, deeply burrowed, but still colouring her voice slightly.
"Yes," Moka said solemnly, "the moon turned purple of few years back. And since then," he let out a weary sigh as many of his people burst into tears. "We have been…hideous since then. Our bodies…" His right arm unconsciously twitched. "They have been cursed by that…moon. We have been twisted by its unearthly rays, our limbs becoming…"
"Maybe it will be better to show me, Moka-sama," Lucy cut across the trailing dialogue. "Don't worry, I will not judge your appearances, it would be unprofessional and downright cruel. I have no wish to insult you and your people."
"Aye!" Happy agreed with the blonde, waving one of his paws to the villagers.
Moka hesitated before nodding. "As you wish, Lucy-san." He turned his back on the Fairy Tail mages and addressed the villagers loudly. "Please, take off your cloaks and robes! We shall not hide from these mages, we have nothing to fear!"
More muttering broke out before some of the bolder people ripped their cloaks off, revealing gnarled arms, oddly coloured legs, horns, fangs, scales, wings. You name it, it was there. Several turned away from the newcomers, shamefully trying to hide their afflictions, wary of the disgust that the blonde mage and her companions might show to them.
But, true to her word, no look of revulsion passed over Lucy's face, and only a mere shadow flickered over Happy before he looked upon them with more interest and curiosity then fear.
"Wow!" Many villagers flinched at the sudden outburst from the previously indisposed Natsu, who was now up on his feet and staring at them in awe. "You guys are so cool! I wish I had horns or wings!" The pink-haired boy flapped his arms experimentally, excitement evident in every movement.
His movements were halted by the fist that smashed down on his head, courtesy of an exasperated Lucy. The blonde squeezed the bridge of her nose, trying to keep her irritation at Natsu's interruption of the serious situation down. "I'm sorry, for Natsu's behaviour. He's just a bit excited, that's all." She gave a reassuring smile at the shocked villagers who were trying to decide what to be more surprised at. Natsu's reaction or the casual way the polite blonde had made her friend collapse into the ground, steaming, with a single fist.
"A-ah," stumbled Moka, "t-that's quite alright, Lucy-san. But, as I was saying," his expression turned serious, silencing Natsu's whines at being hurt as he paid rapt attention to the older man with his twisted arm. "The moon's power has cursed us, and left us like this. At night, when the moon's rays shine brightly upon us, we transform completely, turning into something more akin to…demons."
A shudder rippled through the crowd, mothers having to silence their children's cries, and neighbours consoling one another with quiet words and soft gestures.
Lucy stayed silent, Happy mimicking the blonde from his perch on her head, eyes slightly sad at the villagers predicament. Natsu stood up to say something, put a sudden tug at his wrist had him glancing down to the slimmer hand that was squeezing the appendage warningly. He then looked up to Lucy's face, and at seeing her blank face staring at the villagers, he understood that this wasn't a place to shout or blurt out anything. This was serious.
"You guys don't see the big picture! The big, bad, and scary things of the real world!"
'What things have you seen?' Natsu thought, turning his gaze to Moka again. 'What's so big, bad and scary that you don't even react to the fact that these peoples are demons? What are you hiding, Lucy?'
Placing his thoughts to the back of his mind to turn over later, Natsu tuned into Moka's explanation at how some of his people had gone mad and had to be killed. Including his son, Bobo.
"Lucy…" Happy's tone was confused as he hissed into Lucy's right ear. "We met a Bobo, didn't we? He was the boat guy. So, is there another Bobo or something?"
"Don't worry about it," dismissed Lucy, hand going up to rub one of Happy's ears, the other still grasping Natsu's wrist tightly in case he tried anything stupid. "We'll have a ponder later, okay?"
A rumbling purr was what she got in answer as she found Happy's sweet spot.
"Please," Moka stepped forward, eyes and soul pleading. "Help us…by destroying the moon!"
Even Lucy's tight grip on Natsu's wrist couldn't stop him from roaring out his consent, not even minding that the idea itself was ludicrous. "Alright, old man! We'll do it for ya!" Natsu proceeded to ignore Moka's baffled expression and turned to Lucy with an expectant look on his face. "Well, Luce? How do we destroy the moon?"
Lucy huffed out a breath through her nose as she realised that everyone's attention was now on her and her answer. "…I do not have a method to destroy the moon-"
"No plan?!" Moka yelled out, slamming his staff down unhappily as the villagers yelled out their own protests behind him. "How could you have no plan! It's-"
"If you will just let me finish, Moka-sama…" Lucy's tone of voice was frigid and effectively froze everyone in their expressions of rage. "We have only just found out this information, so it is hardly fair that I could come up with a plan right away." Lucy's voice was clinically cold as she spoke, clipped but still maintaining her politeness. "We will be unable to make a plan until tonight, after we see the moon."
A protest rose to Moka's lips but Lucy shut him down quickly. "You gave us no time period for this job, Moka-sama, so you can not protest against our decision to take our time in order to find out how exactly the moon ails you."
Many people wanted to say that she was the one making the decisions, not her and her teammates, but Lucy's hard look kept them quiet.
"You have lived for years with this ailment, you can survive another night or two." Lucy's words were unforgiving, but her expression softened at the end. "We shall try our best, for your sake." She gave another polite bow, Happy scrambling to keep his position on her head.
"Uh…" Natsu said intelligently, "what she said!"
A sense of awkwardness fell over the collected group of people as they had no idea of how to move on from the cold conversation that had just happened. It was Lucy's sentence of 'We're going to scout the island' that broke up the monotone of the villagers, and they all drifted off to pick up what they were doing before the Fairy Tail mages had come.
"This will be so awesome!" Natsu cheered as he rushed in front of Lucy, heading back to exit through the now open gates. "We're going to destroy the moon!" Flames belched from his mouth as he rushed forwards, leaping over rocks and felled trees in his excitement.
"Are we really going to destroy the moon, Lucy?" Happy asked the Celestial mage hesitantly, paws fiddling with her fringe. "I mean, it sounds…"
"A little crazy?" Lucy finished helpfully, at which Happy nodded at. "Yeah! I don't even think that Natsu can destroy the moon! It's huge!"
"I can, too!" Natsu protested from ahead of the group, face fixated unhappily towards Happy. "How can you doubt me like that, Happy?! I thought we were partners!"
"We are!" Happy cried out. "But you can't destroy the moon, Natsu! That's like…that's like…" Happy struggled to find a simile to show how ridiculous Natsu's proposition was. The exceed suddenly lit up as he thought of something. "That's like destroying the sun!"
'How is that different?' Lucy thought to herself as she walked towards where a trail lead away from the village, different from the path they had taken to the village as it was wider and more used looking. 'Happy is so illogical.' At Natsu's exclamation of 'that makes sense! Sorry Happy!' she added on another thought. 'Natsu is doubly so, though.'
"Let's just look for anything out of place," Lucy addressed her two companions. "Natsu, just try not to burn down the jungle while you're at it."
The Dragon Slayer shrugged unapologetically. "Can't promise anything."
Lucy sighed melodramatically. "If you burn down one tree, there'll be no more dinners waiting for you at my place." She then shrugged, keeping up a fake remorseful voice as she went. "And you can't sleep in my bed anymore…too bad."
"NO!" Natsu yelped, jumping in front of Lucy with his hands held up apologetically. "I swear I won't burn anything, Lucy! Not if it means I don't get to sleep in your bed!"
"Okay," Lucy said disarmingly, patting Natsu comfortingly on the head as she brushed by him. "Then lead on, withholder of fire."
Unknown to our trio of Fairy Tail mages, two people were coming for them, not caring of what level of pain they would deal upon the unsuspecting Fairy's (really, it was only one person who wished for pain on them, but let's just play along with it, okay?)
"I swear," a red-haired demon hissed to herself as she stood at the portside of a large pirate ship, excreting dark aura that promised pain if you entered its circumference. "I will demolish those three when I find them! Then I will hand them over to Master, who will invoke a most extreme punishment on them!"
A safe distance away, Gray observed an extremely mad Erza who was currently glaring over the ripples of the ocean they were sailing on towards Galuna island. "Oh boy, Lucy and Natsu are so fucked when we catch up. They'll wish they never stole this goddamn S-class." He then shuddered as he imagined what sort of painful things would happen to them, courtesy of Erza. Then he covered his eyes as he imagined what sort of things Master would do to them as punishment.
"So fucked indeed."
I'll say that it's not my best work, but it'll suffice.
There is a lot of fancy sounding dialogue in there, so I apologise if anyone seems OOC. The fact that Gray wasn't with them when they got to Galuna was simply because Natsu, Happy and Lucy/Tia left earlier than in the series, so Gray couldn't catch up to them. And I'm making it that Erza was going to arrive back to the guild soon after Gray was going to leave, so Master made him wait for her. And yeah…that's really all…except for one thing.
Q: What the hell is Black Butler about? I read the first manga, then accidentally the fifth, and I'm not too sure if there's a storyline or not. The characters seem awesome and all that, and the fact that Sebastian is some sort of demon is cool, but they went from a hostage situation to a contest of curry in four books! What the fuck?! AND JUST WHAT GENDER IS THE GARDERNER?! I SWORE IT WAS A FEMALE, BUT IT WAS ADDRESSED AS 'my boy.'
WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS THING?!
Much obliged if you answer. (I might make it that I ask an anime/manga related question at the end of every chapter as I'm curious about all the different stuff out there).
Ciao.
P.S. Longest chapter yet of this story!