Lucy tugged at Natsu's arm, trying to drag him through the grass. "Natsu, get up! What transportation are you sick from, anyway?"
"Mmphupumfum," Natsu responded.
"Ugh!" Lucy groaned in exasperation. If only Happy were there to carry him, or Wendy to treat him with Troia. Seeing no other option, as he wasn't dragging very well, she hoisted him over her shoulder. "There, now I'll just wait for you to wake up because you're just so helpful," she said sarcastically.
"Pufumfusmurfumpufufum," Natsu mumbled, and Lucy partially understood: she was transportation to him.
She dropped him to the ground. Though they'd only moved a short distance, Natsu was heavy, and Lucy had to catch her breath. She put her hands to her hips and felt her key pouch clipped to her belt. Oh, right, I could use a spirit. "Open, Gate of the Maiden," she called, taking out an ornate gold key with a spade-shaped tip and drawing it through the air, "Virgo!"
The girl with pink hair and a maid outfit shot up from the ground, spinning so that the chains that hung from her wrists flew around her. "What type of punishment today, Princess?"
"None, just carry Natsu for me. I don't care if he wakes up and walks or sees you as transportation; I just want to get moving."
"Excellent choice, Princess," Virgo said, lifting Natsu with ease.
"It's not supposed to be punishment, Virgo, just some I need your help with. And please, stop calling me Princess." After a long while of being carried by Virgo, Natsu still looked just as sick as before. "Gosh, Natsu, you'd think the challenger thought transportation was your only weakness," Lucy teased him.
"It is my only weakness!" Natsu yelled and went back to being sick.
Lucy rolled her eyes. "Come on, Natsu. I know Virgo would rather not be carrying you, so just get up and walk if you feel like she's transportation."
"Fine!" Natsu snapped, jumping our of Virgo's arms.
Virgo said, "I don't mind the punishment, Princess," but Lucy only laughed and closed her gate. "Goodbye, Princess." Virgo bowed as she vanished.
Natsu got up and started walking as if he had never been sick, "Come, Lucy. Don't dawdle."
Lucy rolled her eyes but followed him. "Why do you think you get so motion sick all the time?"
He ignored her, moving forward rather happily, intent on showing this ignorant challenger what Fairy Tail was made of. Lucy noticed that he kept glancing at the hedges as he walked, until after rounding a corner, he stopped at crouched down to examine them.
"Hey, Lucy," he wondered. "This guy thinks he's so smart protecting the hedges with runes, but in all the time he's spied on us, he's obviously never seen anyone jump," he said, standing and looking determinedly and the sky.
"Natsu, stop!" Lucy screeched, grabbing his arm just as he was about to leap into the sky to get a look at the maze from above. "You don't know that the top of the maze doesn't have runes as well, and this isn't exactly the way to test it. Let's just do this fairly."
Natsu grudgingly agreed with her and kept walking, Lucy still holding his arm. He didn't notice much—Lucy was grabbing on to him all the time on requests when something startled her or she needed saving—but Lucy did notice. She noticed how muscular his arm was and how what she really wanted was for him to wrap his strong arms around her and just hold her for a long time.
Lucy shook her head and retracted her hand from his arm. She'd had this fantasy before, and it didn't turn out like she'd pictured. At the time, she'd also decided that Natsu tended to get really immature and act thirteen years younger than he really was. She pondered this as she remembered the sight of him dancing on a table with Happy, trying to mimic Plu.
"What's so funny?" Natsu asked when Lucy giggled at the memory.
"Nothing."
"Okay, then!" Natsu said with a wide grin. Just then, a movement in the sky caught his eye, and he looked up just in time to see a great, brown dragon fly above them. "Ohmygodit'sadragon!" he yelled excitedly, and before Lucy could stop him, he used his Fire Dragon Fists to propel himself into the air.
"Natsu!" Lucy yelled, but he was already nearing the tops of the fifty-foot hedges.
When he reached them, Natsu crashed into a ceiling of runes that read "Useless." Falling back down, he landed on top of Lucy.
And he calls me the useless one, Lucy thought. She pushed Natsu off of her and started to grab Virgo's key but decided to chose someone else to carry Natsu instead. She felt bad calling Virgo twice within such a short time, making her go back and forth.
The blonde mage whipped out another golden key, this one with an axe-shaped end, and drew it through the air the same way she did before. "Open, Gate of the Bull, Taurus!"
"Moooo!" the bull exclaimed as he appeared, flexing his muscles. "Lucy, your nice body looks very good today!" he complimented her as he usually did.
At first, Lucy would blush when he called her hot, being the insecure person she was, but by then she'd gotten used to it. "Taurus, will you carry Natsu for me. He jumped right into runes of uselessness, but we really need to get a move on and find the center of this maze."
"Of course, Lucy," Taurus said, slinging Natsu across his back, sandwiched between him and his huge axe. "You seem a bit mooore badass than normal," he said, walking with Lucy.
To this, Lucy blushed. Coming from Taurus, who normally only commented on her boobs, this meant a lot. Actually, it would mean a lot coming from anyone. She knew that around the guild, she was seen as the one who couldn't do anything special. A few people underestimated Levy in this way as well, but they had her small size as justification; they had absolutely no reason to think Lucy was powerless but for what they saw her do to help with requests, which was often very little.
"Thank you, Taurus."
Suddenly, they saw a figure a ways down the path. He stood tall, but didn't appear particularly muscular. He was wearing a long dark green jacket and had a thin black braid of hair. His skin was pale, and the way he stood just radiated with elegance overshadowed by arrogance. When they got closer, they stopped, and he smiled wickedly with narrowed eyes. To Lucy, he looked like a snake.
"Who are you?" Taurus demanded.
"Oh, I'm no one special," the man said in a deep, sneaky voice that made Lucy even more weary of him.
"Well, you're still here in the maze we have to solve, so we'd like to know who you are!" Lucy yelled.
The man rolled his eyes and took a snake-like step towards them. "Fine, my name is Stilio Volans, but don't mind me. I'm just passing through. My dragon has gone missing, you see, and I'm just walking about, trying to find it." He smiled another wicked, snake-like smile that had LIE written all over it.
"Are you the challenger?" Lucy asked.
"Heavens no," Stilio said. "I know your challenger well, but I'm only here to repay a favor."
"You sent your dragon flying over here because you knew Natsu would hit the runes trying to follow it, didn't you?" Lucy accused.
Stilio sighed. "I may have, but regardless of the reason for this boy's situation, his impulsive behavior is a bit of a weakness. Not to mention his complete lack of all sense and reason whenever anyone mentions dragons. It all seems so childish to me," he droned.
Lucy clenched her teeth. How dare he insult one of Fairy Tail's most valuable members like that. Sure, she'd been calling Natsu childish earlier that same day, but as a member of Fairy Tail and Natu's friend and teammate, she was allowed to poke fun at him. This guy was not.
"Taurus!" she said, and the bull jumped into action.
"I'll take good care of him, Lucy, and protect your nice body!" Dropping Natsu, Taurus pulled his axe off of his back and ran towards Stilio. "Moooo!"
Stilio nimbly avoided Taurus's attacks, moving like a snake. As he slithered around Taurus, his hands burst out to strike him in the neck, shoulder blades, arms, and thighs. Taurus gasped and fell, immobilized.
"I'm sorry, Lucy. I can't move," he called back.
"That's okay, Taurus," she said, closing his gate and summoning a different spirit. One who was strong in body and magic, but more nimble and better suited to defeat this snake of a man. "Open, Gate of the Lion," she cried out, drawing yet another golden key, this one with an end that resembled flames and a lion's head handle, "Leo!"
Her old friend, Loke, appeared before her, ready to help. "You want me to take care of this guy, Lucy?"
Lucy smiled, confident in her post powerful spirit and he leader of the Zodiac spirits. "Yes, Loke, but be careful and try not to get too close if you don't have to: he uses pressure points to disable his opponents.
Loke gave a curt nod and rushed towards the snake man, his glasses gleaming and two balls of light forming around his fists.
"Go, Loke!" Lucy cheered as Loke struck Stilio time and time again. Stilio, though he appeared to be losing, was still smiling. He evaded most of Loke's attacks but let himself be hit by others.
"What are you doing?" Loke growled.
Stilio cackled and flit away from Loke. "I've done my job here. Farewell." He vanished, but his wicked smile and yellow snake eyes remained in Lucy's mind.
"That was odd," Loke said, suspicious. "I'll just be heading back to the spirit world, then."
"Wait!" Lucy called, and Loke, half-gone, reappeared. "You should stay."
Loke smiled and rushed over to her, taking her hand with his and sliding his other around her back. "I'd stay with you forever, Lucy."
Though smiling and blushing, Lucy put her hands to Loke's chest and pushed him away. "Just carry Natsu for me."
"Sure thing!" Loke picked up Natsu's sleeping body and followed Lucy forward.
Deep in his subconscious, Natsu was dreaming. He dreamt himself on a boat, sailing over the ocean. Below him, the recently revealed water dragon, Maryn, was swimming and leading him.
"Natsu," a voice called form behind him.
Turning, he saw a girl leaning against the mast. She was slightly shorter than him with a slender figure, big blue eyes, and very short hair. This hair was the same color as her sister, Mira's. "L-Lisanna?"
"Hey, Natsu," she said, walking towards him.
Natsu needed no reason to explain how she was alive: this was the world of a dream. "I didn't know you'd decided to come with." Natsu's dream mind knew that he was on another expedition to find Igneel, following Maryn to his island. Lisanna was going to stay at Fairy Tail, but apparently decided to come along.
"Well, I couldn't let you and our son go on a dangerous venture like this all alone," she said.
"Aye!" Happy cheered, flying up in front of Natsu.
"Well, I'm glad you're here," Natsu said, pulling Lisanna into a hug.
The waves splashed up onto the deck, growing higher and more reckless. Natsu looked into the water, and Maryn was gone. Thunder roared overhead, and rain began to fall down on them.
A large wave jostled the boat so that Lisanna fell into Natsu and they kissed. "I miss you, Natsu," she whispered before vanishing into thin air.
Natsu searched for her frantically, but the lightning lit up the sky, crashing to bring him to reality. Lisanna was gone.
"Natsu," Happy said, flying into his arms. The waves died down, and the rain reduced to a drizzle. "I miss Lisanna."
Holding the blue cat in his arms, Natsu sighed, "Yeah, I miss her too."
When he felt Natsu stir, Loke stopped walking. "Natsu, you waking up?"
"Erm… huh?" Nastus muttered, returning to consciousness. "Put me down! I don't need you help!" Loke dropped him and smiled.
"Let's go, Lucy said, motioning for them to follow. Without having to carry Natsu anymore, Lucy thought Loke would return to the spirit world, but he stayed. Loke and Lucy walked side-by-side, talking about the guild, the spirits, and other things.
Natsu trailed behind, watching them. He'd known Loke for three years longer than Lucy had, and even she'd had time to see what a womanizer he could be. Even though Loke didn't talk to any other girls in the human world and seemed to have a thing for Lucy, Natsu was sure he had at least a few spirit girlfriends that Lucy didn't know about. He's still the player he's always been, Natsu thought and clenched his fists when he saw Loke take Lucy's hand. She leaned her head on Loke's shoulder, and Natsu snapped.
"Hey, Loke! So, I haven't talked to you much since you got all 'Leo' and stuff. How's the spirit world been, good?"
"Um, yeah," Loke said, wondering why Natsu was acting to hostile. "It felt good to be back after so long."
"Oh, yeah," Natsu agreed with fake sincerity, "I'm sure it was hard being trapped here for so long with only your hundreds of girlfriends to console you."
Lucy couldn't believe how rude Natsu was being to Loke. "Natsu, why would you say that?"
Ignoring her, Natsu continued to badger Loke. "I was also wondering how your spirit girlfriends, of which I'm sure you had many, took to you being gone. Where'd they think you were, and how happy were they when you finally returned to them?"
"A-actually-" Loke started, but Lucy intervened.
"Nastu!" she said forcefully. "Stop prying into Loke's personal life and making ignorant assumptions. If he had dozens of spirits girlfriends, I would know. I've been looking into my spirits' relationships in order to understand them better, and his only girlfriend is Aries." To this, Natsu smiled. Making moves on Lucy while having only one girlfriend was still bad.
Loke stepped in to speak for himself. "Actually, I don't have any girlfriends. Aires and I have history and a connection, but we're just good friends. Lucy, you're the only one I love no matter what world I'm in."
Lucy was speechless, but Natsu, determined to get rid of Loke, kept talking. "Stop wasting your time, Loke! We know you're more than friends with Aires and probably many others, but that doesn't matter. What matters is that Lucy's too good for you, anyway, and she'll never love you, so just shut up and go away!"
Lucy stared at Natsu in rage. She did have feelings for Loke. She'd been trying to keep their relationship professional, but what's the point in that? "Natsu, you shut up!" she yelled at him and grabbed Loke's face, pulling him into a kiss.
She'd wanted to kiss him since she first came to Fairy Tail. Even after seeing him with all those girls, she'd always loved him. When he became her spirit, she knew she'd get the chance some day. Today was the day. Loke felt the same. When Lucy walked into the guild that first time, he almost wished he hadn't had a few of his girlfriends clinging to him, but didn't show it. He knew he'd get her to love him some day. Today, the lion was leaping with joy.
Natsu gagged. He couldn't believe Lucy would be into someone like Loke. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew he felt like this about Loke when he was with Lucy even though he didn't care at all about Loke with any of his others, because he wanted to be kissing Lucy himself. In Natsu's mind, Loke could womanize anyone he wanted, just not Lucy. However, Natsu quickly pushed the thought away. He had better things to do than think about girls all the time.
When Loke and Lucy broke apart, Loke took one look at Natsu's face and said to Lucy, "I should go. I'm making Natsu uncomfortable. Call me anytime." With a wink, he disappeared, and Lucy marched forward, ignoring Natsu.
When they got to the circular clearing that was the maze's center, five other teams were already there, and the clack in the ground read nine thirty. Almost everyone—Laxus and Bisca being the exceptions—was staring at Freed. Lucy and Natsu had been in so much emotional restlessness that they didn't realize the possibility of Freed being the one who set up the maze and challenged Fairy Tail. Now that they thought about it, it would make perfect sense if he had.