Natsu scrambled to his feet. His vision was still swimming from the blow he'd taken to the side of his face. No one had ever hit him hard enough to make his eyes water, but that girl did. Why did she tell him to stay away from Lucy? Lucy was his partner while the girl was a stranger. Right?
But he'd heard Lucy say the girl's name. Lucy had been worried about the girl – he could see it in her eyes when she'd seen the girl's bruise. Was the girl Lucy's new partner? Natsu didn't like the idea of sharing Lucy with some random girl.
Lucy. She was so much stronger now. She didn't even use her spirits to fight the Vulcan. And that girl had taken on two female Vulcans on her own while Lucy handled the male. They worked together like they had been doing it for most of their lives. Natsu shook his head. He needed to find Lucy again, before that girl did anything.
But where did they go? There was that weird blue light and then they both vanished. Their scents were just cut off. They definitely weren't invisible. Did they teleport? But that was a lost art. What were the chances of that girl knowing how to teleport two people?
"Natsu?" A new voice rang out, accompanied by an all too familiar scent. It had the faintest traces of cat in it, but that was the form she preferred. "Natsu, are you okay?"
"Yeah." He tried to sound normal. Lisanna had one hand on the trunk of tree and her entire body screamed tension. She focused on him, but her eyes told him that she was ready to run.
"Did you find Lucy?" she asked gently. He nodded silently and her tension increased.
"I'm sorry, Lisanna," he mumbled. She blinked several times while she processed his words. "It wasn't your fault she had to leave. It was mine."
"No, Natsu, it—"
"You didn't see her!" he shouted. Lisanna took an involuntary step forward. "She screamed when she saw me. She screamed in pain!"
"Natsu!"
His hands pulled at his hair. "Her curse, it's all my fault!"
"NATSU!" Lisanna took the last few steps and pulled his hands down. She would've slapped him, but it might make the situation worse. "Natsu, look at me." He kept his eyes down. Ignoring his refusal to comply, she kept going. "It's your fault, yes, but not all of it. Erza and Gray are at fault too. They agreed to replace Lucy, and they told her that she was weak. It's Juvia's, Levy's and my fault for not realizing how she felt during the week after you took her off the team. It's everybody's fault for not realizing that she took the death of her father too well. She barely cried, never took time off. She always smiled, laughed, and said she was okay. It's her fault for lying about her feelings. You aren't the only one to blame, Natsu. Taking all the blame onto yourself won't help anyone, especially not Lucy. Okay?"
Natsu nodded. Lisanna let out a long sigh and pushed him to sit. He complied, but reluctantly. Lisanna set up a campsite for the two, spreading out her pack and Natsu's. She let him figure out his feelings while she took care of the campfire and started to warm up some cooked fish Mirajane had given her for her trip.
"Lisanna?"
"Hm?" Lisanna glanced up from the fire, focusing on her travel partner.
"Luce had someone with her."
"Who?"
"I dunno." Natsu shrugged. "She punched me and told me to stay away from Luce."
"She'd probably Lucy's new friend. It's easier and more fun to travel with someone." Lisanna flipped the fish, letting the smell drift up to her.
"She grabbed Luce's wrist, and then they both vanished."
Lisanna glanced up sharply. "Was there blue light?" Natsu nodded glumly. "A teleportation mage, huh?"
"I though that was a lost art." Natsu moved to the fire and scooped up a handful of the flames, slowly sucking them up.
"So is your dragon slayer magic." Lisanna pointed out.
"I guess." He mumbled around the fire in his mouth. Lisanna rolled her eyes and pulled the fish off, tossing one to Natsu. He caught it in his bare hand and stuffed it in right after finishing the flames. Lisanna, not having burn-resistant skin, used a stick to spear the fish and then let it cool slightly before nibbling on the tip.
"You know, Natsu, I think that the curse hurts Lucy when she sees you because she has… stronger feelings for you than the rest of the guild." Lisanna prodded the topic with a wary finger. Natsu looked at her in confusion.
"Huh?"
"You're more than a friend to Lucy."
"Well, duh. She's my partner." Natsu went back to eating his fish. He knew what Lisanna meant, but he didn't know how to deal with it. Especially since he though he felt the same way about Lucy.
"Think about it Natsu. Good night." Lisanna bit off the last of her fish and crawled into her sleeping bag. Natsu watched her fall asleep, his mind firmly locked on Lucy. Did she really feel the same way?
We kept walking past sunset. Neither felt really tired, even though the episode with Natsu should've left me exhausted. I guess I had too much worry to relax. I wasn't sure I would last through another encounter with him, so we kept going. Brenna's hand was firmly clasped around mine and she would occasionally start a light jog, slowing down the moment my breathing became heavier. Rather that tiring me out, the short bursts of running refreshed me and kept my mind away from the pain.
"I think…" Brenna paused, shooting quick glances to the sides. "I think I know where we are."
She swerved to the side, pulling me along with her. A few minutes of branch dodging and plant stomping later, she crouched next to twin tree stumps and pulled back a chunk of grass. A thick plaited support was under the dirt, and the roots kept the grass from falling away. The hidden cover revealed the stumps to be part of a ladder that led into the darkness of the underground. Brenna let go of my hand and slipped down, becoming little more than a smudge in the darkness.
"Brenna?" I called, one foot on the ladder. A match flared to life with a heated hiss and revealed an unpolished wood floor.
"Come on down." Brenna's voice floated up to me and I slipped down after her. The bunker was impressive and completely unexpected. Pale wood walls met with a plain wood floor. The ladder came down roughly in the center of the wall, and a kitchenette complete with a fridge and a portable picnic heater took up the space to my right. On the left there were two worn couches and a matching armchair, all beige with dark wood outlines. Above the couches, the wall was covered with a hanging bookshelf. Tomes of all thickness crowded for space on the roughly carved shelves. A small platform took up the space by the far wall. To the left stood a bunk bed and a desk, while a door led to a smaller room on the right. I guessed it to be a bathroom.
"Wow." I dropped my pack next to Brenna's and watched her check the empty fridge.
"Yeah. I used this last year, and I made furniture in my free time. We won't use the fridge or the stove – they take up too much time to get started and if we have to leave quickly, I don't want to come back to rotting food or a burnt bunker. The bathroom is over there," she jerked a thumb at the smaller room, "and nothing there works."
"Got it."
"We should just stay above ground. If we're found, we can hide out in here, but it'll be easier for both of us if we don't have to return here all the time. There's a town nearby, so how about we crash here for the rest of the night and then see if we can snag a job in the morning?"
"Yes ma'am." I saluted and Brenna rolled her eyes. We quickly unzipped our sleeping bags and had a fight over the top bunk. I won, but Brenna promised to make my life miserable for the rest of the night. Ignoring her threats, I crawled onto the thin mattress and cocooned myself in my bag, enjoying the warmth. Sleep took over almost immediately. I had no idea how tired I really was until my eyes closed.
I awoke to the feeling of a lump in the mattress painfully massaging my lower back. Further investigation revealed the lump to be Brenna's toe, and she was poking me from the lower bunk. I wasted no time in jumping down to the ground and throwing my rolled up sleeping bag at her face. She was caught unawares and took the full hit. With a playful growl, she leapt out from under her sleeping bag and tackled me. We rolled around in a violent little snowball until my arm collided with the bathroom door and I pulled out of the spat with a hiss. The skin was already turning red and Brenna didn't look apologetic in the slightest.
"C'mon, let's go. It's nearing noon right about now." Brenna rolled up her sleeping bag, clipped in to her pack, and pulled the pack onto her shoulders. I did the same, taking great pains to avoid aggravating the rapidly forming bruise on my wrist, and we climbed out through the hidden latch. I took a moment to adjust to the bright sunlight and we set off at a light jog, Brenna leading me through the maze of a forest. By the time we reached the outskirts of the town, we were both slightly sweaty and bore obvious signs on the woods on out clothes. We took a moment to clean up, pulling twigs out of our hair and sticky plants from our clothes, before entering the town.
"What's the town called?" I asked. It was small, compared to Magnolia or Hargeon, The buildings were well kept and the streets, all cobbled, were clean. People wandered around, visiting the many shops that lined the sidewalks and the stalls that took up any leftover space.
"Acari. It's a good way away from where we met him." Brenna led me to the center square, a large, open rectangle that teemed with people. A large wooden board covered in little white papers stood between an inn and a restaurant. People crowded in front of the board and occasionally snagged a paper. Those that took a job left, presumably to find the employers. A few slipped into the inn or restaurant. Some started fights over requests, barely any of which escalated into full out brawls. It was a huge reminder of Fairy Tail, but as long as I didn't bring up any names, there was no pain.
Brenna pulled me through the crowd until we were right in front of the board. I scanned the requests: monster hunts, deciphering, bodyguarding, treasure hunting, finding a missing person, and even babysitting. I caught a couple dog-walking requests sitting side by side with jobs that asked to exterminate a dark guild. This was one odd request board.
"How about this one?" Brenna tapped a flyer that promised a hefty payment of seven hundred thousand Jewels. All we had to do was apprehend five roadside thieves. I gave her a thumbs up and she pulled the flyer off before taking my hand again and practically yanking me towards the inn. She let go to push the door open and I followed her in.
The room was large and dim. I could make out a bar in the far corner, lined with uniform barstools. Tables with two to four chairs took up most of the room, and a small platform acted like a stage in the corner to my right. Booths lined the left wall. People's features were hidden by the dim lights, but most were facing the stage and listening to the acoustic music. Brenna made her way over to a free booth and swept past the bar, ordering two lemon waters. The bartender nodded without looking up and we slid into the booth. Our drinks were served the moment we were settled.
"This place is called the Hanure Inn. People come here to rest after a job or just to kill time before going out on one." Brenna explained as the bartender placed our glasses onto the table. She thanked him and he left while she took an experimental sip. I tried the water and sighed in content. The amount of lemon was perfect.
"So what's the job about?" I asked. Brenna narrowed her eyes at the flyer. It refused to jump up and explain itself.
"A group of five thieves is ruining trade business. People are afraid to use the main road, so less traders come in. It's also giving the town a bad reputation. We'll have to speak to the mayor first," she read, squinting at the small font. I nodded slowly and took another long sip. "We can use jobs to train. It'll round out your skills more, and also introduce the real-world factor."
"Well then, let's get started, shall we?" I grinned at her. To my utter shock and surprise, she gave me a full smile in return.