Already chapter 17, I can't believe that I have this much dedication...
Chapter 17: The Journey To The Mountains
Natsu began to gather things into his bag. He decided he'd wear something that was comfortable to move in, easy to fight in and easier to keep warm in.
So, now the well-built boy, who didn't know how handsome he appeared to some women and girls, stood in a tight black vest that clung to his abs and in some black long johns. His hair, which had been cut by Lisanna the previous night, was back to its original spiky way.
He wore a waist bag, which hung at his side. Inside this was his money, that had been collected from various jobs, and on his back lay Dezeus, who was still a little too big to be placed at his side.
He stood outside the sleeping halls early in the morning; the wind blew gently in his face as he waited for Lucy to come outside. He felt the sun's warmth embracing him and welcoming him to the new day, and he sighed with tiredness laced into his hushed hum.
He ruffled his hair as he yawned, then leant against the wall as many of the new students left early to their lessons.
"I am going to miss you," he felt two small arms wrap around his waist. "You just came back, and now you are going again - I feel like you and Lucy are leaving me behind a little."
"Maybe, just maybe, if you had worked a little harder, Lisanna, you wouldn't have been left behind," Natsu untangled her arms and put a hand on her head. "Afterall, when we fail, who else do we have to blame when we are kept behind but ourselves. You're strong in your way, but not in the way that catches up to me. Like you are strong in a way I am not."
"In what way, that is physically possible, am I stronger than the great Natsu Dragneel-Clive?" Lisanna chuckled, her pink lips turning upwards slightly.
"You're open," Natsu answered bluntly, he gave her a small smile, "I cannot be honest with myself, and keep telling myself that what I'm doing is for the man who raised me, but it is actually just for me. I keep telling myself that I'm getting stronger to protect my friends from what happened; really, my weak spot is my friends, but they make me stronger."
"Love does make people stronger," Lisanna blushed a little, taking Natsu off guard a little. "I wonder who Natsu likes..."
Natsu pulled his eyes away from Lisanna to see Lucy bounding towards them; he smiled while scratching the back of his head, "Finally!" he groaned.
Lucy and Natsu waved at Lisanna as they headed to the school gates; he took her satchel and carried it for her.
"I didn't think you were the type to use a whip," he whistled, hoping she wouldn't get the hidden meaning behind his words. "I thought maybe a dagger or a short sword."
"You've spent too much time with Gajeel, Natsu," Lucy's face was beet red, and her expression became a pout.
The two both walked out of the gates, showing the pass given to them from Makarov which allowed them to leave the school premises. They then jumped in the carriage arranged for them by Makarov, which would take them to any place them decided to go and would leave them there. This meant they had to make their way to the mountain, as the carriage only went to towns or villages, and to make their way back.
"Where are you going, sir and ma'am?" the carriage driver had a slightly southern accent, sounding like he's lived on a farm for a large part of his life.
"Do you know the village slightly west of the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts?" Natsu inquired, placing his and Lucy's belongings onto the floor of the carriage. The man nodded, so Natsu continued with his directions, "Please take us to the Clive residence, sir."
The carriage driver took off without another moment of wait. Lucy and Natsu could hear the clicking sound of the horse's steel shoes against the stone floor. Fairly soon the clicking sound vanished, and now the sound of stomping could be heard. At this moment Natsu and Lucy both knew they had left the city.
"It's been three years since I've properly left campus," Natsu sighed, he looked towards Lucy who was giving him a strange look.
"You look sick, are you okay?" She questioned, worry laced in her voice.
"I am not too good with movement that isn't on my own two feet," He laughed sheepishly, looking out the side of the carriage.
"You can rest on my knee if you want."
He took up her offer and placed his head onto her lap, then slowly fell asleep as Lucy played aimlessly with his salmon coloured locks.
When Natsu awoke, it was because of Lucy shaking his shoulder, looking down at her with her brown orbs.
"Are we here?" Natsu inquired, moving slowly from her lap to sitting up.
"Almost," Lucy smiled slightly, then patted out her black leggings, and straightened out her white blouse. "The man said we'd be there in a couple of minutes."
They sat in a comfortable silence, Natsu began sorting out his clothes. He wanted to look presentable in front of the only woman that raised him and the man that gave him training to make him stronger. He also wondered if Cana would be back yet, but he didn't think she would be.
He wanted out the side of the carriage. Watching as the hills flew past and how, upon entering the small village, all the children and adults would watch as the carriage rolled up to the large house that belonged to the Clive residence.
Natsu found himself fumbling with the hem of his cloth top; as he picked up Lucy's bag, and his own, the carriage driver had already knocked on the door for them. He stepped out the carriage, holding his hand out for Lucy to use.
He heard the creak of the old door - there stood the woman that raised him, even if it was only for a short period. He still felt a large amount of happiness, and it surged through his whole body as fast as a bullet.
"Cornelia," he said through a wide grin. "I came back like I said I would! I told you I never break my promises!"
The woman skipped over the steps and came face-to-face with the boy she considered her son. She felt an immense amount of pride for him; that he had become a man that was worthy of taking on the world.
"Welcome home, Natsu." the brown haired woman touched his cheek lightly, then glanced over to Lucy, who still held Natsu's hand. "Excuse my rudeness. It appears you have brought a guess Natsu, come inside. I'm sure Gildarts will be as thrilled as me."
"The old man is here?" Natsu chuckled, leading Lucy towards the door. "Does that mean Cana is home, or did he just finish a long mission?"
"He just finished a year long mission," Cornelia smiled. She opened the door to the house a little more and led them through the halls. "He was chasing after a supposed deity rank, and seeing as he has now reached the deity rank, the task was given to him by the War God in Crocus. The man he was after... he was too strong. Beyond a deity. Gildarts believes this is the man that took Igneel from you."
"What is beyond the deity rank?" Natsu inquired; he saw red, and his left fist that was not holding Lucy's hand became white.
"Well," Lucy began, "beyond the deity rank is the Demigod rank, then the God rank, and then the Highgod rank. Beyond that are the ones that run the world, sovereigns; Overgods."
"Is there anything beyond the Overgod rank?" Natsu was trying to categorise the place where the man who killed his father would be put.
"That, my boy, would be the Universe Creator." Gildarts smiled weakly, most-likely he had heard over the whole conversation. "The man I faced off against was an Overgod, and if it hadn't have been for Sovereign Makarov, I would surely be dead."
"The man that calls us all 'brats' is a Sovereign?" Natsu's jaw dropped to the floor, "He told me he wasn't anything near that, and he doesn't seem to hold that type of power. I practice in his spiritual fields."
"You can mask your rank if you are of a high enough rank, and make yourself seem weaker so that no one knows your exact rank," Gildarts said, slightly smirking because he knew Makarov liked to trick others.
"Well," Cornelia began, "I think we have a lot to talk about. Please, make yourself at home the both of you." Happy jumped onto the side of the couch, meowing that he was there too, "And you too, Happy."
It was very late afternoon when Lucy and Natsu set out for their journey into the mountain range. From the Clive home to the mountain range was a short trip, if they could move quickly enough.
"Natsu I'm exhausted." Lucy whined, her panting getting heavier as she used up more and more of her magical energy to speed herself up with wind magic.
"Come here," Natsu held out both his arms, and Lucy walked towards him. "I've not even used it half of what I have, and even after I'm a high ranked warrior. I'll carry you there."
He picked her up like a princess, and with a panther-like speed, he became a blur as he ran towards the north entrance of the mountain range, which is the entrance all the students had to use. He jumped over many large tree trucks, and at one point he flew over the trees with a great jump, almost like a bird.
If he kept moving like this they'd make it to the north entrance in no time.
But, Natsu sensed something. And, it wasn't just anything.
It was something quick and strong. It was quick enough to disturb the wind particles massively and strong enough to make Natsu feel weary about whether he could take on it, or whatever it was moving so quickly.
"Happy," he said quickly through their mental connection, "conceal your strength and check what is coming up on us."
"Aye, sir!" the blue cat-like creature said obediently. Natsu still wondered what kind of breed of beast Happy was.
Natsu kept on moving through the forest, but more slowly this time. He had to be cautious of his surroundings.
He wasn't a high enough rank to sense someone's strength, but with the speed of the thing that was moving towards them, he could tell it was powerful.
Meanwhile, Happy was scouting very carefully. Right now he was moving swiftly alongside what was chasing them. It was a person concealed in black, but on the cape was a red circle with an italic 'A' inside of it.
Around the shadowed man was a belt. Hung from it were different types of darts and knives. There was also a large black bag on the man's bag, which had a bottle attached to it. But Happy could see a glint from behind the bag, and concealed behind it was a thin short sword with a grey hilt.
Happy was still in range with Natsu and decided to contact him, "It's a guy, Natsu. He has a circle with a red 'A' on it."
He continued to stalk out the man, waiting a few minutes for Natsu's reply, "Can you take him out? If not abandon it and we'll try to conceal where we are."
"I can take him out, boss!" Happy's cat-like features grinned with glee.
He pounced out of the bushes and onto the unsuspecting human blur. The shadowed person was not prepared in the least and was taken by surprise to the attack. Happy knocked the stalker out of the air and watched them flail to the side, hitting a tree.
Happy didn't give the strange person a chance to recover before attacking with a fury of sharp-clawed strikes. The person wailed in agony sounding like distress animal. Happy's back became arched and he took up guard this time.
The person recovered quite quickly. They reached for several knives off their belt and threw them like darts towards Happy. He jumped backwards from every one of them, and then as the person began reaching for another set, Happy dived in.
He enlarged his claws and his body using magical energy and swiped straight at the attacker's neck, but the attacker was one step ahead and threw a warning knife to Happy's paw, which grazed his paw slightly. Happy jumped backwards, both him and the attacker waiting for the next ones attack.
"Boss, this person is more strategic than I thought!" Happy jumped backwards from a few more surprise knife attacks and landed on a low tree branch.
"Kitty, I don't have time to play with you," The person in black clothing said harshly. "So, just die already!"
He threw another knife, but it didn't even get to Happy. Natsu had arrived very easily from where he and Lucy waited for Happy.
He let down Lucy and pushed her behind him, "You're from an assassin's group, who are you after?" Natsu inquired, lifting the long sword onto his shoulder like it was nothing.
"Depends," The man said, his face covered with a black hood and face cloth, "Are you protecting the girl?"
"Ah..." Natsu sighed, then grinned, "Looks like I'm going to have to kill you if you're after her then. Mind me asking what rank you are? I don't really go into battles unprepared."
"I'm a fifth rank assassin, what about you, kid?" The two seemed to casually chat, which scared Lucy slightly, her life was in Natsu's hands.
"Well..." Natsu chuckled, using his other hand to scratch the back of his head. "I'm a sixth ranked wind mage, a sixth ranked fire mage, a sixth ranked earth mage; a third ranked destruction mage." Natsu took a deep breath, "And a sixth ranked warrior."
"That's impressive," The Assassin said awestruck. "How old are you?"
"I'm 15," Natsu brought the sword down from his shoulder, "So... we going to fight or what?"
"I know better than to get myself into a fight that will end with me dying, have fun at that mountain range you're heading to, I'll get someone sixth ranked to come deal with the girl." And with that, the person ran. They fled too quickly for Natsu to even register.
Lucy began healing Happy's wounds, while Happy yelled in Natsu mind, "I ranked up to the eighth rank!"
"Rank eight?!" Natsu coughed on his water a little, as he stared at the cat a little.
"What's wrong?" Lucy asked, a little worried, but not too much.
"Happy's a rank eight!"
Lucy spat out her drink also.