"I want to train in the mountains." said Leora which caused everyone to stop what they're doing and stared at her. "You can't be serious! It's too dangerous!" yelled Lucy. "I have to. The mountain is the best place for me to enhance my senses." said Leora. "Master, what do you think?" asked Erza with an arm on her waist. "Hm..." hummed master Makarov with his arms crossed as he thought about Leora's request.
"We'll accompany her to the mountain, master."
"Freed?!" asked Gray, shocked to see the Thunder God Tribe. "If anyone's taking Leora somewhere, it's gonna be us." said Natsu. "I'm going there by train, Natsu." said Leora. Natsu's face immediately paled as soon as he heard Leora's choice of transportation. "What do you think, master?" asked Freed. "She'll be 100% safe with us." said Evergreen. "Me and my babies will protect her." said Bickslow. "Protect her! Protect her!" chanted Bickslow's babies.
"Hm... Alright, but carry a Communications Lacrima Crystal with you." said the master. "Okay. Thanks, Gramps. And thanks Freed, Ever, Bickslow." said Leora with a grin. "We'll meet her tomorrow morning then." "Okay. See you tomorrow." said Freed.
"Morning, guys." said Leora, leaning against the bar. "Good morning, Leora." replied Freed. "Morning~" said Evergreen. "Morning, lion." said Bickslow with his tongue out as usual. "Morning! Morning!" chanted Bickslow's babies. "Time to go guys." said Leora. "Okay." said Freed. As the Thunder God Tribe all started to walk toward the door, only Leora remained standing. The three of them stopped and turned to her. "What's wrong?" asked Freed. Leora looked to the ground and slowly lifted her hand. "I can't see." said Leora. "I thought you could feel the air around you." said Evergreen. "I lied. I didn't want anyone to worry about me. I can't feel the air yet. That's why I need to go and train in the mountains." said Leora. Bickslow grabbed onto Leora's hand. "If we didn't came to help, then how could you go there?" asked Bickslow, leading Leora towards the group. "I knew Laxus would call you guys to take care of me. That's why I made the decision of going to train in the mountains." replied Leora.
The Thunder God Tribe all smiled at each other. Bickslow then pulled Leora towards him and started to lead her out the front door. "Don't worry, Leora. We'll definitely protect you." said Freed, placing a hand on Leora's shoulder. "Thanks guys." said Leora.
"I don't feel so well..." said Leora, leaning against the window. The Thunder God Tribe had decided to go to the mountains by train, Leora just complied with their decision.
"Jeez. You dragon slayers are such a pain." said Evergreen, who was sitting beside of Leora. "Sorry, Ever..." murmured Leora. "You don't have to apologize, Leora. It's because Laxus doesn't have problems with trains, so we thought you wouldn't as well." said Freed. "Laxus never gets motion sickness?" asked Leora, looking as shock as she could with her current condition. "That's right! He's the man!" yelled Bickslow. "Well, he is the strongest." said Leora as she touched the headphones resting on her neck.
Leora then tried to get up and pushed herself onto Freed's and Bickslow's legs. "Leora, what are you doing?!" asked Freed startled. "I do this whenever I feel dizzy." said Leora as she closed her eyes and faced Freed's stomach. "Well, I won't mind it as long as you don't kick me." said Bickslow. "I won't." said Leora. "You still look sick." said Freed as he studied Leora's facal expression. "Is there anything else that'll make you feel more comfortable?" asked Freed. "There's this time where Gajeel-nii stroked my hair. It eased me up right away." replied Leora. Freed lifted his hand and slowly strokes Leora's hair.
"Like this?" asked Freed, but he got no reply. The Thunder God Tribe all looked at Leora. She was already fast asleep. "That was fast. Keep stroking her." ordered Evergreen. "Looks like it worked like a charm." said Bickslow. Freed nodded and kept stroking Leora's hair.
The four of them soon arrived at their destination. Freed and Bickslow went up to the mountains first and Leora tried following them by their scent with Evergreen looking out for her from behind. After a few bumps and falls, Leora finally found her way to the top of the mountains. "Made it!" yelled Leora happily with a grin. "That was fast for a first time." said Bickslow. "Never underestimate a dragon slayer's sense of smell." said Leora proudly. "We found a cave where you can live in during your training." said Freed. "It's in the direction in front of you." "Thanks guys." said Leora as she walked forward. She felt the structure of the cave through her hands.
"Nice right?" asked Bickslow. Leora nodded her head in agreement. "Are there fruit trees and a river around here?" asked Leora. "There are." replied Freed. "I'll find them myself. You guys can just stay here in the mean time." said Leora as she took off.
Leora used her sense of hearing to find the river and her sense of smell and touch to find the fruit trees. She also caught a wisp of Freed, Evergreen and Bickslow's scent through her search. "Guys, stop hiding. I can smell you scent. Come out." said Leora as she sat on a tree branch. She heard the rustling of the leaves and the Thunder God Tribe's scent becoming stronger. "I thought I told you guys to stay at the cave." said Leora with her arms crossed. "I apologize, Leora. But we were worried." said Freed, looking at the ground. Leora sighed and shook her head. "Seriously guys, I'm not a three year old." said Leora. "But-" "I know I'm blind. That's why I want to get stronger. Or else there's no way I could fulfill my promise to everyone in the guild. I want to protect my family." stated Leora. The other three didn't know how to reply Leora so they just smiled.
"Race you guys back to the cave! Loser prepares lunch!" yelled Leora as she started running towards the cave. The others were shocked for a moment before immediately followed after Leora. Leora bumped into a lot of trees on her way to the cave. She could hear Bickslow laughing loudly, Evergreen giggling and Freed suppressing his laughter. When Leora reached the cave, she sat on the ground. "I'm sure they're leaves all over my head. Mind helping me remove them?" asked Leora. "Of course." said Evergreen as she closed her fan." "While the two of you are busy, Bickslow and I will prepare lunch." said Freed. "But no Winged Fish. Yuck." said Bickslow.
After all the leaves have been plucked out of Leora's hair, Freed and Bickslow returned with some normal fish they caught in the river and some fruits they picked. Freed cooked the fish to perfection before cutting them with his sword. All of them enjoyed the meal, especially Evergreen and Bickslow, who were happy that they weren't eating Winged Fish.
Later that afternoon, Leora and the Thunder God Tribe had a little training session. It was three against one. Although the Thunder God Tribe rejected the idea at first, but due to Leora's stubbornness, they had no choice but to comply. Leora also managed to force them to use their full strength at her by using lightning and fire magic.
The session ended after a few long hours, everyone was exhausted. Leora lied on the ground while the others just sat down. "Ha... That... was... fun!" said Leora while panting. "You should take care of yourself more. You passed your limit." said Freed. "She overused her body, that's for sure." said Bickslow. "It was impressive that she can go against all of us." said Evergreen. "I won't lose to you guys. I need to beat Laxus after all." said Leora, pumping a fist up in the air. "You still have a long way to go before you can reach him." said Bickslow. "Long way! Long way!" chimed Bickslow's wooden dolls. "It's time for us to go." said Freed as he stood up. Evergreen and Bickslow followed his action. Leora jumped up and landed on her feet. "See ya, guys. I'll come back when I'm done training." said Leora. "Stay safe, Leora." said Freed. "Train hard." said Bickslow. "Look after yourself." said Evergreen. "I will. Bye." said Leora as she looked at the Thunder God Tribe's direction as they take their leave until their scent disappeared from her nose.
Leora touched her bandanna and untied it. She tied them over her eyes before deciding to travel to the Celestial Spirit World. As soon as Leora reached the spirit world, a pair of hands grabbed onto her owns. "I got you, Leora." said Loke. "Thanks, Leo-nii." said Leora. "Is everyone here?" "We are! We're all here, Leora." said Scorpio. "You're a huge mess." said Aquarius. "Leora-sama is always like this." said Virgo. "Limited time here, guys. I just used all my strength in training." said Leora. "Moo~ So what do you need, Leora?" asked Taurus. "I want to link with you guys. I'm gonna create a portal for you guys to pass through to where I am while using my magic." said Leora. "That's crazy! It'll take a lot of magic out of you!" yelled Loke. "Besides, I can come and go with my own powers." "You're Lucy's knight and the leader of the zodiacs of course you can pass through, but you need to save your powers too. So, I need to do this or who else do you think can come and look after me when you're busy?" asked Leora. "She does have a point there. Moshi! Moshi!" said Sagittarius.
"It's settled then." said Leora as she held onto Loke's hands firmly. A gold light surrounded Leora's hands then disappeared. "I've linked with Leo-nii. Who's next?" asked Leora with a grin. "There's no use arguing with her now." said Gemi. "She's not going to take "No" for an answer." said Mini. "Then we'll just have to link with her, ebi." said Cancer.
One by one, the Zodiacs all linked with Leora. After Leora had linked with everyone, she gave them all a big hug before returning back to her world, where it was already night time. "It's night time now." said Loke who followed after Leora. "Time for bed then." said Leora as she went into the cave. There, in the corner of the cave laid a bed where Freed and Bixslow had built for Leora. "Goodnight, Leora." said Loke as he kissed Leora's forehead before returning back to the Celestial Spirit World. "Goodnight, Leo-nii..." muttered Leora in bed. "Training starts tomorrow. I'm sure I'll catch up to you soon... Laxus..." mumbled Leora before she fell asleep while holding onto the headphones on her neck.
Sorry for the long wait, everyone!
And, thanks again for everyone's support!
I apologize for this chapter being a bit short. I ran out of ideas and I'm not good at writing fighting scenes. Sorry.
Also, when I was rereading my previous chapters, I can't believe I spelled Loke's name wrongly. Someone should have told me, but hey, it's my own fault for that.
To lazyfangirl:
You're right. Laxus isn't easily fooled. Or is he? Don't worry. Leora will find a cure somehow.