A/N: I do not own either Fairy Tail or The Wizard of Oz.
Only two people submitted a summary T_T so thanks to Jazzele and Fedski. Anyway, both were good but I had to choose one. So, congrats to Jazzele! Just email me at chaotic_souljam . yahoo . com (remove the spaces) whether you want a LokiLucy series of oneshots/drabbles or a continuation of Words Unsaid.
Anyway, on with the story!
Gray walked back towards the barn with an armful of dry grass. He had also picked up some twigs to use as firewood. He was trying to think of a way to actually start the fire when he heard a rustling among the tall, unharvested corn stalks. His head whipped around, looking for the source of the sound.
"Gray!"
Happy burst from the corn and flew at him, knocking him over.
"Happy! We were looking all over for you!" he scolded.
"I was looking for Natsu. We were supposed to meet up hours ago but he didn't show up! What should I do?" Happy wailed.
"Well, you could stay with us for the night then continue looking for this Natsu person in the morning," he offered, gathering the scattered firewood. Happy hovered uncertainly.
"We're staying in that shed over there," he added, jerking his head in the barn's direction.
Before Happy could answer, a shrill voice pierced through the cool night. Gray tensed; he would know that shriek anywhere. He sprinted as quickly as he could to the barn, berating himself for leaving Lucy alone. Happy hurried after him.
"Gray! Wait for me!"
The barn was only a few meters away. He spurred his legs to go faster, blood pounding feverishly in his ears. He couldn't focus on anything but getting to Lucy; he refused to entertain the thought that he might be too late. Upon reaching the barn, he dashed in, thankful that the door was open; it meant that Lucy might have gotten away already.
The shed's interior was dark; the moon was still hidden behind the clouds. He cursed, straining frantically to see through the darkness.
"Lucy?" he panted. He saw movement in the shadows from the corner of his eye. The clouds chose that moment to drift away, allowing moonlight to shine into the barn. Grateful for the light, he turned towards the motion he had spotted before. His eyes widened, taking in the scene in front of him; a ragged-looking boy with ridiculously pink hair knelt beside an unconscious Lucy, his grimy hands gripping her shoulders. Their eyes met for a moment, both not expecting to see the other. Then Gray growled at him and the moment was broken.
"Get your hands off her!" he snarled with barely-concealed fury. The startled boy jumped off Lucy, wiping his hands surreptitiously on his trousers, and began babbling. He couldn't care less what kind of excuses he was trying to make; he hurt his mistress and he was going to pay dearly for that. He analyzed the situation; the bastard was far enough from Lucy that he could attack without harming her. His magic pooled into his hands quickly, fueled by the ferocity of his anger.
"Ice Make: Lance!"
"Whoa!" the stranger ducked, narrowly avoiding the ice that spiked towards him. "That's dangerous!"
Gray gritted his teeth. This guy was fast. He had already managed to escape outside the barn. Then he smiled humorlessly. At least if he was outside, he didn't have to hold back for fear of hitting Lucy by accident.
"Roar of the Fire Dragon!" the boy countered, exhaling a strong burst of flames in Gray's direction. Eyes widening, he was about to duck when he realized that the flames would set the barn on fire if he did.
"Ice Make: Shield!" A panel of ice came into being in front of him, deflecting the flames. Without giving his opponent the chance to recover, he lunged at him.
"Ice Make: Floor!" The soft earth froze into a slick sheet of ice in an instant. His opponent, not expecting this kind of maneuver, flailed, trying to get his balance back. He landed on his rear with a hard thump.
"Why are you attacking me?" The boy glowered at Gray, attempting to get back to his feet. But the ice was too slippery and he couldn't. Gray strode purposefully towards his foe; he didn't look like he would be getting up anytime soon.
"What did you do to Lucy?" he hissed. He gripped the boy's muffler and dragged him to his feet. Gray glared at him, his entire body trembling with rage.
"Luigi? Who the heck is Luigi?" the boy asked in confusion.
"Natsu!" Happy flew towards them. Gray started; he had forgotten about the cat.
"Where were you?" Happy demanded. Then he froze, eyeing the two questioningly. "Why are you two—Natsu, what did you do this time?" The cat shook his head wearily.
"You're Natsu?" Gray looked at him in blatant surprise. He dropped the muffler and allowed the ice under their feet to melt away.
"Well, yeah," he scoffed, rearranging his muffler. "Anyway, do you always do this? Go around half-naked randomly attacking people you don't even know?"
"I didn't 'randomly' attack you. You knocked Lucy out so I thought I'd knock you out," Gray spat. He ignored the half-naked remark; he couldn't deny it after all. Besides, there were more important things to discuss than his state of undress.
"Knock out? Oh, you mean that girl back there. Hey, listen. I didn't hurt her if that's what you're implying," Natsu said, his tone indignant.
"Oh, yeah? How do you explain her being unconscious?" Gray clenched his fist, ready to take a swing at Natsu depending on what his answer would be.
"Well…I might have kinda maybe grossed her out. So she fainted," he answered, rubbing his nape sheepishly. Happy and Gray stared in utter incomprehension.
"You," Happy said slowly.
"Grossed her out," Gray finished.
Natsu relayed what happened in the barn; that he had attempted to acquaint himself with the person who freed him but only managed to smear horse manure all over her hand. When he was done, Gray and Happy burst out laughing. Natsu joined in, chuckling at the fact that he had managed to incapacitate a person simply by overwhelming her with disgust.
"Anyway," Natsu said when their snickers had finally subsided. "Who were you again?" He directed the question at Gray.
"Gray Fullbuster," he replied. He should really come up with a better introduction than that; maybe something along the lines of 'Gray, ice mage extraordinaire with a penchant for exhibitionism'. He paused. That didn't sound right. Maybe he should leave out the exhibitionist part.
"Well, you know who I am already. But anyway," Natsu shrugged. "Natsu Dragneel."
The trio—Gray, Happy, Natsu—sat around a merrily crackling fire that Natsu had provided for them. The hay was damp but that didn't stop Natsu's fire magic from igniting it. Gray was impressed but didn't allow it to show; he had a feeling that Natsu would never let him live it down. He let the conversation—about some Lisanna girl—wash over him. He had listened at first when Natsu was telling him that he was a dragonslayer trained by Igneel, a fire dragon; he wondered at the irony of a dragon training a dragonslayer.
His eyes kept drifting across the fire to Lucy's prone form; it was worrying that she hadn't regained consciousness yet. As funny as Natsu's version of what happened had been, he wasn't convinced that she had fainted that easily. If he knew Lucy—and he did, damn it—she wasn't that pathetic. Sure, she was afraid of the dark and thunder and little creepy crawlies but she wouldn't pass out from just that.
He spotted the rope clutched in Lucy's dainty fingers. Uneasiness flooded him; his instincts were screaming at him that something was wrong. Happy noticed his restlessness.
"What is it, Gray?" he asked.
Gray ignored him and moved to Lucy's side. Eyeing the rope warily, he reached out to pluck it out of her hands then paused to reconsider; if he was right and the rope was indeed the reason for Lucy's blackout, then to touch it with his bare hands would be stupid. He couldn't help her if he was incapacitated too. He considered his options; he could risk having either Happy or Natsu take the rope or find a way to destroy it without touching it. He decided that putting the other two in danger was not a very good idea, especially since they could probably help them find their way home. So the first option was out. His only choice was to destroy the rope itself.
"Freeze," he muttered, his fingers hovering inches from Lucy's own slender ones. His brow furrowed in concentration; he had to do this just right or Lucy could lose her fingers to frostbite if he lost control of his magic. Ice crept slowly up the rope, rendering the rope rigid and brittle.
"Ice Make: Dagger," A thin blade of ice formed in his hand. He pressed it against the frozen rope, carefully maneuvering its edge in between Lucy's fingers. Once all the pieces of the rope had fallen to the ground, she stirred. Gray let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding; she was all right.
"Gray?" She sat up slowly, her hand cradling her head. "What—Happy! And what's-his-name—Natsu!" she exclaimed, noticing the recent additions to their group.
"Aye!" Happy replied cheerfully.
"Luigi!" Natsu began.
"It's Lucy! Not Luigi. At least get my name right. Geez," She rolled her eyes at Natsu.
"Sorry about the—you know," he said, gesturing towards her hand.
Lucy looked down and grimaced at the foul smell wafting up from the muck on her hand. She wiped it in the bale of hay that she deemed looked the cleanest and held her hand towards Gray. She didn't have to tell him what to do. He let some magic trickle from his fingertips to her outstretched hand, careful not to use too much. Her fingers frosted very slightly and he withdrew his magic, causing the paper-thin layer of ice to melt from her body heat. Cool water ran down her hand, taking with it the worst of the filth that she hadn't managed to wipe off. He knew that she had seen him use this trick before when he had been cleaning their stables for the whole day and was too tired to take a proper shower; she walked into his room while he was doing it then rushed right back out, stammering apologies about interrupting his 'bath time'. It wasn't very hygienic but beggars can't be choosers. There obviously wasn't any proper bathroom anywhere near.
"Lucy, Natsu said you passed out from the shock of getting your hand dirty. Is that true?" Happy snickered.
Lucy made a choked noise of indignation. "Excuse me? I'm not that faint-hearted!"
"Right," Natsu drawled, clearly not believing her. He and Happy whispered conspiratorially together. Gray caught snatches of their conversation—something about denial and Lucy—but dismissed it as unimportant. He turned to Lucy, intent on discovering what had really happened.
"It was the rope that was binding Natsu," she explained. The other two quit their gossiping and gave her their attention when they heard her mention Natsu. "It was enchanted; I felt its magic when I touched it. I think it was some kind of binding spell that was set to trigger when someone untied the knot."
"Ah! I think that Bora guy said something like that," Natsu put in. "He was all 'Mwahaha! Whoever unties that knot will fall into a hundred years of sleep!' or something like that."
"What is this? Snow White?" Gray deadpanned.
"I think you meant Sleeping Beauty, Gray." Lucy giggled.
He paused. Oh, yeah. Snow White was the one with the apple and the bitchy queen stepmother. Damn it. He always mixed those fairytales up.
"Wait. So you knew that the rope was cursed and you let her untie you anyway?" Gray shot Natsu a withering glare.
"Well," he fidgeted. "I figured it was just sleep and you could, y'know, wake up anytime you wanted?" He smiled guiltily at her.
"And they say chivalry is dead," she sighed.
A/N: Whoa! This is the longest chapter yet XD. Maybe because I tried a different style for this chapter? The previous chapters were in 3rd person omniscient POV but for this chapter it was more…selective in that mostly only you can only hear one character's thoughts, namely Gray. I found that it was easier for me to write this way soo…
Anyway, please review about which style you prefer. I may (or may not, depending on the reviews =^_^=) rewrite the previous chapters in this style. So, R&R onegai!
Oh, yeah. I was thinking of putting up a quick preview of what I'm planning to do for the next chapter. Well, here it is. It's not written in stone though so it might change. I swear sometimes when I write, the story evolves on its own. O_O
Next chapter: Natsu's reason for traveling around Fiore is revealed.