Ch. 3 - Decent

Lucy had asked Sakimo to wake her up at dawn, but, apparently, Sakimo couldn't shake Lucy awake. Instead, Lucy was greeted with ice-cold water from the river poured on her face. After she had finished screaming, she glared at Sakimo, who's mouth was open in silent laughter. It was strange seeing a grown woman with her mouth wide open clutching her stomach. Lucy's face softened.

"Well, good morning to you too," Lucy grumbled, a failed attempt at acting angry. A piece of parchment was shoved in her face. '

sorry, you just wouldn't wake up. i take it your not used to waking up this early?' The writing was wobbly and messy, as if she was shaking with laughter the whole time. 'I wonder why,' Lucy thought.

"Well, that aside, thank's for waking me up. Goodness knows I'm definitely wide awake now," Lucy turned to Sakimo, who was still giggling.

Lucy got up and attached her keys to her belt "I'm planning on leaving soon, Sakimo. Thank you so much for all the hospitality."

She turned to Sakimo, who handed Lucy a dark brown canvas bag, filled with a various assortment of knives, daggers, and a small supply of food and water. There was one of Sakimo's notes laying on top. 'youd best stay by the river,' it said, 'and those clothes are not fit for the forest. would you like me to lend you some of mine?'

Lucy's heart warmed at how much thought Samkimo put into her safety. She shook her head. "It's okay Sakimo; I can just get some clothes from the Spirit World." Sakimo nodded.

Lucy summoned Virgo, Sakimo watching in awe of it all. "Is it time for punishment, princess?" Virgo said in her monotone way. Sakimo looked at Lucy, disbelieving.

"That's just a thing she says, Sakimo. Stop saying that, Virgo!"

"As you wish, princess."

"And stop calling me princess!"

"As you wish, princess." Lucy sighed. Sakimo giggled.

"Ugh, anyway Virgo, I need some clothes fit for the jungle. Can you get me some from the Spirit World?" Lucy said.

"Hai, princess. I'll be right back." Virgo disappeared in a poof of smoke, and appeared again holding some clothes. "Here you go, princess."

"Thank you, Virgo. You can go back now." she replied. Virgo bowed and then disappeared.

Sakimo had disappeared, probably to let Lucy have some privacy changing. Lucy shrugged and began to undress. She was only in her underwear and was bending down to pick up the clothes that Virgo got for her, when a certain somebody named Rimo walked in calling out, "Lucy? Sakimo said you needed m-" He was cut short when he saw a very half-dressed Lucy standing in the middle of the room. Lucy squeaked, her face heating up. After an awkward second of silence he whipped around, covering his eyes while apologizing profusely. His face was redder then a ripe tomato under his tan skin.

"SAKIMOOOO!" he screamed, as a red faced Lucy frantically put her clothes on. Sakimo came stumbling through the door, holding her stomach as she gasped in laughter. "I'll deal with you later," he mumbled to her and bolted through the door. Sakimo was rolling around on the dirt floor while gasping for air as she silently laughed.

"Sakimo?" Lucy hollered. "YOU PLANNED THIS?"

— Fairy Tail —

The guild was back at its normal state, filled with laughter and fights. Strangely enough, though, Grey and Natsu weren't arguing. In fact, ever since Lucy left Natsu had stopped fighting with Grey. He tried to be his usual chipper self, but deep down, everyone knew Lucy leaving had hit him the hardest.

Natsu was sitting at the counter drinking a flame flavoured milkshake, when Grey yelled loudly, "Oi, look everyone! Flame-brain over there is quiet for once!" It was an attempt to get Natsu back to normal, but he didn't even try and make a comeback.

Even Natsu himself didn't know why he was so heartbroken. On missions, he would destroy things more then normal, earning him is new nickname, 'The Reckless Salamander.' It made him feel better, a little bit. He knew Lucy was going to come back, but if he knew that, why was he so heartbroken? Lucy wasn't anything special to him, was she?

Everyone else in the guild was conveniently avoiding the topic of Lucy. Team Natsu, however, thought about her a lot. They regretted not telling her that she was an important asset to the team. She was the brains, after all, and the one who nursed them back to health after their missions if Wendy wasn't around. But now she was gone.

And had only been 5 days.

— Rimoro —

When Lucy left the hut, Rimo was nowhere to be found. With her brown canvas bag on her shoulder, she went about, visiting the villagers and bidding goodbye. Some gave her their exotic foods, which she ate for breakfast, savouring the taste.

Before she knew it, it was already mid morning. She finally found Sakimo, holding a basket of fruits on her hip, chatting with another villager. Was it just Lucy or did she look a bit… fearful upon seeing Lucy? Lucy had already forgiven her for her mistake, so why did she look so scared?

"What's wrong, Samiko?" Lucy prodded. "I'm only here to say goodbye."

Samiko hurriedly wrote something down on a crumpled peeve of paper, and handed it to Lucy's outstretched hand. 'nothing… you just look a little intimidating with your current attire.'

Surprised and a little satisfied, she looked down for the first time at what Virgo had given her. She was wearing a warm leather jacket with a blank tank underneath. Her jeans were black and form fitting, but were actually comfortable. Lucy guessed it was because it was from the Spirit World. She was wearing black combat boots and, of course, her black belt with her brown pouch of keys with her Fleuve d'étoiles hanging by her side. Oh. It did look a tad intimidating.

'its not really the same style as the clothes you were wearing when you got here.' Sakimo wrote.

"Oh, yeah, that's right," Lucy said, " It's not really my style,"she continued, "but I think I can get used to this," she finished. She looked at Sakimo. "Well, anyway, about the Rimo event…"

Sakimo began to giggle uncontrollably. She pointed to Rimo, standing at the edge of the forest alone. She thanked Sakimo and hugged her quickly, bidding her farewell. Sakimo nodded and smiled warmly.

That girl had no shame.

Lucy braced herself and made her way to Rimo. When he turned to look at her, his face got slightly redder and he avoided her gaze. He coughed.

They stood in an awkward silence until they both spoke at the same time.

"Sorry about-" Rimo began.

"Thanks for wecom-" Lucy said.

Rimo coughed again and gestured toward her. Lucy cleared her throat before saying, "So… Thanks for welcoming me into Rimoro. You were really… uh… hospitable," she said, skillfully avoiding the previous event.

Rimo nodded. She was about to awkwardly nod again when he said, "Sorry. About… you know. Before." Was it just her, or did his harshness toward her tone down a bit?

She felt her cheeks take up a pink tint when she mumbled, "Yeah… about that…" She continued, "Just… just don't go walking into people's houses, er, huts, without knocking, okay?"

She could have sworn she saw the corners of his lips turn up as he pointed to a nearby hut. She followed his finger and realized that the 'door' was made up of nothing but a thick curtain. She turned back to him quickly.

"Yeah, well, you can knock on the wall or something," she stated as-a-matter-of-factly.

He chuckled so quietly she could barely hear him. She felt something bubble up inside her, something she hadn't felt in a while. She laughed. Soon they were both laughing at the whole situation.

"Well… I guess this is goodbye," she said, almost regretting leaving.

Rimo looked away. She was just about to venture off when he pulled her into a rough, brief hug.

"Stay safe," he whispered into her ear.

She smiled and hugged him back. When they separated, she grinned and said, "I guess you're not as harsh and you let off." She thought she saw a blush before Sakimo bounded up to them, hugging Lucy once more. She slipped Lucy a note.

'you know, thats the first time ive seen you smile and laugh since you came here'

Lucy raised an eyebrow. Sakimo grinned suggestively. Lucy laughed and said a heartfelt goodbye before walking away. She whirled around one last time and gave them a grin and a wave before disappearing into the forest.

After she left, Samiko looked at Rimo who was still staring after her. She nudged him and then grinned. Rimo looked confused for a second, then realization dawned of his face.

"No, Sakimo, I don't like her that way," he declared, before storming off in that angry way of his.

Sakimo smiled and skipped off to go tend to the crops.

— Rimoro Forest —

Lucy walked for miles, probably, following the river the whole way. Lucy decided that the first thing she needed to do was find shelter. She tried climbing up a tree, and after some thinking, she used her whip to hoist herself up onto a big broad branch. It took come strength, however, and she didn't have much of it at the moment. It took many failed attempts and some bruises before she finally made it up.

"Ugh," she murmured, "I'm pooped." She laid down on the branch or a while, falling asleep.

She woke hours later to a grumbling stomach. She didn't want to, but for the sake of her training decided to hunt for her food. She suddenly had a fabulous idea. She summoned Sagittarius.

"What can I do for you Miss Lucy, moshimoshi~" he said. He looked around, and upon seeing no particular enemies or threats, he turned to Lucy wondering what was going on. He was also slightly surprised at her sudden change of attire. "Is there anything you need, Lucy? Moshimoshi?" he repeated.

Lucy looked him in the eyes and declared, "Sagittarius, I want you to teach me how to shoot a bow."

Sagittarius looked slightly confused and inquired why.

"Because I don't want to depend on my spirits for everything," she said. Sagittarius smiled. What happened to the girl who depended on her spirits to carry her so she didn't have to walk?

"As you wish, Lucy," he replied. He disappeared and returned seconds later with a sleek black bow and a black quiver with some arrows inside. "These are from the Spirit World. Thus, the quiver has an infinite supply of arrows for your use, moshimoshi~"

Lucy gasped. "Thank you, Sagittarius!"

Sagittarius smiled and bowed quickly. Then he said, "If you don't mind, Miss Lucy, shall we get started?"

—

About four hours later she finally managed to snag a bunny for her lunch. Sagittarius was very patient and encouraging. He was also quite shocked at her determination. Even as her fingers were red and swollen from the string, and her arm was sore and tired, she still pressed on.

Before he went back, she thanked him profusely. It took some time of her to gut the poor bunny, but she said apologized to it before she did. Usually, she couldn't even look when raw meat was being prepared, but she forced herself to do it. She painstakingly made a fire and cooked the meat. She finally had her lunch an hour later.

Even though she was exhausted, she made herself run laps and to other various exercises to up her body strength. She even sat in the ice-cold river and meditated. At the end of the day, as she laid in her tree branch shivering in the darkness she thought about how hard it was to train. She knew she had quite a long way to go before she could go back.

She found herself thinking about Natsu. She wondered how he felt when he found out and if he was missing her as much as she was missing him. She missed him, uh, them, but she vowed not to ever go back to Fairy Tail until she decided she was strong enough.

A/N:

Hi again! I'm so sorry for not updating in, like, 3 days. I wrote a longer chapter, please forgive me!

I think I'll most likely be updating on weekends and maybe Wednesdays and Fridays if I don't get a lot of hw. Just thought you guys should know. ^-^ And, before I forget, I don't own Fairy Tail. This is FanFiction must I even say this? Hahah, anyway, thanks for reading and please leave a review! Constructive Criticism is welcomed!

P.S. Please also leave a review telling me whether you want this to be a NaLu or a.. hm… what do I call this… a RiLu? Hahah.

-Jo