Hello again, Ladies and Gents.
Enjoy this chapter! And hello to all the new Followers to the story! I'm so happy to have you!
— One week later —
Lucy spent the past week training and getting to know her new guildmates better. It was probably the most fun week she had had in her life. She was feeling more comfortable with the members, but there was always the thought itching in the back of her mind. And ever since she tried to leave the guild, constant guilt loomed over her. Whenever she was left alone, she would almost always cry. And at night, nightmares invaded her dreams.
She was hiding so much from them. Lucy debated telling them many times, but something always stopped her. Maybe she thought if she could keep it from them, the threat would never find them. So far, Lucy hadn't had any problems. No one recognized her, she didn't notice anyone watching her, no one came attacking her, nothing. She wasn't sure how long that was going to last. And she feared her hopefulness would only bring misfortune.
Staying in one spot for so long certainly wasn't a good thing, especially since she'd been recognized once already in the town not very far from their camp. On top of that, Lucy itched for some excitement. Spending time with her guildmates was fun and all, but they seemed to get stuck in sort of a routine. They'd wake up, eat breakfast, get dressed, train, rest, eat lunch, to random chores, hang around and talk, eat dinner, hang around and talk, sleep, and do it all over again. The others must feel the same way. She wondered why no one just said that they should go already. Maybe they were waiting for Lucy to tell them she was ready. She was the one with the keys after all.
They'd have to discuss it at dinner. The thought gave her a thrill. She was actually going to complete a room with her very own guild. Possibly even a tower one day. Lucy couldn't imagine what kinds of things they'd be challenged with. She couldn't wait to see what her friends could do and see what she herself could do as well. Lucy gave a huge goofy grin to herself.
"What's that creepy smile for?" Erza asked. Lucy snapped out of her fantasies. Lucy made her grin into a simple smile.
"I was just fantasizing," Lucy admitted. Erza raised a mischievous eyebrow.
"About a boy?" She asked. Lucy laughed and shook her head.
"No of course not," Lucy said. "I was thinking about all the adventures we'll go on together."
"Exciting to think about right?" Erza said. Apparently, she did this to.
"I'm anxious to get out there and complete a room. Then Fairy Tail can finally start making a name for itself. We'll become the best guild in Earthland in no time. I've got that feeling." Lucy got the same goofy grin again. Erza shook her head amused.
"You sound like Natsu." Erza teased. "I think you've been spending too much time with him."
"I'm just trying to be ambitious,"
"Well, keep it up." Erza smiled. "Ambition's good if you really want all those this you fantasize about to happen."
"Guys! Dinner's finished!" Mira called to the guild. Everyone got up from where they were and headed towards the middle of the camp. Lucy and Erza took a rabbit meat kabob and sat down around the blazing fire.
"Fire's looking good today, Natsu." Wendy complimented the pink haired boy. Natsu's face lit up and gave her a grin.
"Thanks, Wendy. I'm glad someone appreciates the work I put into making the fire that keeps everyone warm and makes our food so we don't die." Natsu said this loud enough for everyone to hear.
"I appreciate it Natsu, but it really isn't that hard to make a fire. And you do it every day so it would be pretty redundant to say thank you every single time you made a fire." Lucy implied. Natsu frowned. He found the statement especially disheartening coming from Lucy.
"Fine, then tomorrow you can make the fire and make sure it doesn't go out and gather all the wood you need to keep it going." Natsu hissed.
"Come one, Fire Face. Don't get so butthurt." Gray said from across the fire.
"I wasn't talking to you, Pervert." Natsu snapped.
"Alright, that's enough," Erza demanded. She cut off the argument early. It would've gone on all night if they allowed it. "I swear you idiots give me headaches."
The guild chit-chatted a bit more while eating their food. Lucy tried to find the right time to bring up the whole completing a room thing. Natsu seemed to have read her mind.
"How much longer are we gonna be camping out here, Laxus," Natsu asked. Laxus looked surprised by the question.
"Well, until everyone's ready to head out I guess." Laxus shrugged.
"Well, we do have a Key Keeper now." Gajeel looked at Lucy. "We can actually complete a room now. Become an actual adventure guild."
"Right! We can actually register now." Levy exclaimed.
"Register?"
"You need to be registered by the government of Fiore to be recognized as an actual guild," Elfman explained.
"We couldn't register before because in order to be a guild you need at least one Key Keeper." Mira elaborated further.
"So really were not even a guild yet. We just call ourselves one." Cana added.
"Oh, well, how do you register?"
"The Guild Registry and Information Center is in Crocus," Gray said.
"Once you're there, from what I understand, you fill out a bunch of paperwork. Tell them what keys you've got and what not. They provide information on where to find certain towers. They come in handy for information. They always provide a banking system and insurance." Erza said.
"It's pretty easy to register actually," Laxus said. "The journey is just a hassle and the paperwork's tiring.
"Well, we should head to Crocus then. The sooner we're registered the sooner we can start completing rooms." Lucy stated excitedly. The others seemed surprised by her eagerness, besides Erza that is.
"Well, actually, if we pack everything up tonight. We could leave tomorrow morning. We could get to Crocus in four days tops walking." Natsu said.
"Who says we're going to be walking." Gray retorted.
"I agree with the pinkie. Walking's the best way to go." Gajeel agreed.
"We are not walking. Let's clear that up right now." Laxus stated. Natsu and Gajeel gave grim looks. Lucy wasn't exactly sure why they were so adamant about walking, but she'd figure that out later. "We'll take a train."
"A train sounds a lot more enjoyable than walking." Cana agreed.
"But we get motion sickness. You guys know that."
"We'll barf all over the place," Gajeel added. That answered Lucy's question at least.
"I can give you that medicine I gave you before. You'll be fine." Wendy assured.
"It's settled then. We'll leave tomorrow morning and catch the first train to Crocus." Mira stood up and clapped her hands together.
"We can't bring all of our stuff with us on the train. We've collected a bit of stuff the last, what, month we've been here." Levy stated.
"We can leave the sleeping bags and stuff like that. Just take your weapon's and a few clothes. We can stock up on food in Crocus." Laxus said.
The guild spent the rest of the evening packing up their things. Levy, Mira, Erza, and Cana came over to Lucy to give her some clothes that she could keep since she had none other than the dress she had one when she first arrived. She put the clothes in a satchel that Gray gave her to use. She didn't have anything else besides her cloak, whip, keys, and the pair of earrings from Natsu that she wasn't wearing. She set everything in a pile beside her sleeping bag and crawled into it. She wanted to go to bed early add get to tomorrow quicker. Lucy closed her eyes. It took awhile but eventually sleep came to her.
Lucy woke up to the sound of footsteps around the camp. Erza, Levy, Mira, and Cana were gathering the last things for the trip. Gajeel and Gray were rolling up sleeping bags and taking down Wendy's tent. Wendy was mixing a bunch of different herbs together, probably making the motion sickness medicine she mentioned yesterday. She didn't see Laxus and Elfman around. They were off doing something or another. Natsu was still fast asleep snoring lightly. Lucy got up and quickly changed and brushed her hair. She put the last things she had into her satchel, put on her cloak and attached her keys to her belt. She took it upon herself to take down the changing curtain since everyone else was done using it. Levy noticed she was awake.
"Morning Lucy." she greeted. The others shouted out mornings as well
"Morning, guys," Lucy said. "What are you guys gonna do with the sleeping bags and stuff?" Lucy asked. The white cloth was folded sitting in her hands.
"We're just leaving them here, I guess. We have a pile over there." Gray informed and pointed to the pile of sheets and sleeping bags. Lucy nodded and put the cloth in the pile.
"Hey, can you wake up Natsu?" Erza asked. "The idiot would sleep all day if he could." I nodded and headed in Natsu's direction. I squatted down and shook Natsu's shoulder.
"Natsu, wakey-wakey," Natsu groaned.
"Five more minutes, Luce," Natsu mumbled. Lucy took his arm and stood up dragging him from the sleeping bag.
"Nope, we've gotta get going Natsu," Lucy said. "You do want Fairy Tail to be the best guild in Earthland, right?" Lucy asked. Natsu nodded tiredly and sat up. He yawned and rubbed his eyes.
"Fold your sleeping bag and get all your stuff," Lucy told him. Natsu nodded and began rolling up the sleeping bag.
Lucy was more than a bit nervous to go into town. There was a chance she'd get recognized again. Even with her cloak hood up, standing in the middle of the group, and the fact that it was so early few people were on the streets, she was still on edge. In Crocus, she'd have to be even more careful not to get recognized. Crocus had to be a popular spot for guilds and solo Adventurers. Those were the people that knew her and knew how valuable the keys were. Which put something else on her mind. Erza had said you had to tell them what Keys you had in the paperwork. Should she be honest and put the keys she had and hope that they keep that information secret or should she lie and only say she had five silver keys? Lucy had been excited before but now she was making herself nervous. It must've shown on her face cause Natsu leaned into her concerned.
"What's wrong, Luce," Natsu asked.
"What do you mean? Nothing wrong, why would you think something wrong?" Lucy said with fake positivity.
"You just had a weird look on your face is all," Natsu said. Natsu seemed to be very wary of Lucy every since he'd talked her out of leaving the guild. Every time Lucy frowned or made an expression that was negative in any way he'd ask her what was wrong.
"You get that look when you're nervous about something," Natsu stated. "What're you nervous about?"
"It's really nothing Natsu." Lucy insisted. Natsu stared at her a moment the stood up straight again forgetting about it.
They arrived at the train station. It wasn't very crowded because of the time. Laxus got eleven tickets to Crocus and gave one to each of us. It had to have been expensive to get tickets for that many people. Lucy wondered where they got the money for that.
The guild took up a good portion of the seats and there were only a few other people riding with them. Lucy had never been on a train before and certainly not for a whole day. Lucy sat next to Natsu on the train. He let her have the window seat. Lucy hoped Wendy's medicine would hold up the whole time. She had no desire to sit next to sick, moaning Natsu. The train started moving. Lucy looked at Natsu a small bit concerned, but he looked fine.
She stared at him a moment. She wondered what he was thinking. She wondered this a lot actually. She never got the chance to ask Natsu why he'd got her a present. The others teased him about it, but he didn't seem phased. What she was more curious about was the key he'd given her. Lucy could tell it was important to him. He said his father gave it to him. Why would he give it to her? Why would he give her something that important to him? She almost asked him but thought against it.
She turned her head toward the window and stared at the town passing by.
I know this chapter is a bit boring and shorter than the others, but it was needed to get to the more interesting stuff. I'm sorry! The next chapter will be longer and better.
Have a lovely day, you deserve it.
Edited and Refined: 02-04-18
