Here is the 6th chapter to my little story. This story came out a lot sooner due to how much easier it was writing it out. I just started typing it and I soon got right into it and next thing I know I had 1,300 words written out in about 2 hours. It also helped that at that point I left myself at a part where I could easily come up with more ideas with this chapter ending at about 2,100 words. In this chapter you will see how Erza is different to the main story. Enjoy

Reference:

Talking - "Quotations"

Thinking - 'Contractions'

Flashback - Italics

Spells, Important people or objects - Bold

A Return Worth Waiting For

Chapter 6

The Following Morning

"Happy! Have you seen Natsu and Erza anywhere!?" A rather frightened white haired bartender desperately asked the blue cat as he flew in. It was still quite early but usually the two of them always showed up by now if not just to indicate they were alive and well.

"No. Erza got me some fish and said she was going to help Natsu out with his motion sickness. But that was yesterday afternoon. They were in talking about heading to the woods on the outskirts of town." Happy responded. He wasn't overly worried about his 'father' / best friend, but that doesn't mean he isn't nervous as to why he hasn't shown up.

After a quick moment of Mira pondering what to do, the doors flew open. The two, assumed, judging by the loudness of the door, that it was Natsu. Wrong. It was Jet. Fairy Tail's High Speed Magic user.

"Guys! Take a look at what those two done!" He frantically yelled.

"What two did what?" Asked Gray as he wasn't paying attention to the conversation earlier.

"Look!" The high speed mage replied, pointing out the still open doors he was holding. Pointing to a column of smoke that was noticeable in the far off distance.

"Are you sure that's from him? It is that time of year where forest fires can start." Macao

"It's late spring you senile old man!" Wakaba insulted.

"Hey! I'm the same age as you! So you're no better." Macao retorted comically angry at his friends insult.

Mira and Happy just ignored this little outburst and left the guild to go check up on the two, with Gray following behind him claiming he had nothing better to do.

In The Forest

Amidst the sliced trees, burnt grass, two figures were laying unconscious in a shady part of the woods despite the damage the surrounding area has taken. Both Natsu and Erza fought to the point of exhaustion and passed out. Natsu lay spread out on his back covered in small cuts, his clothes in tatters while Erza was fast asleep right next to him, with her regular clothing on, littered with minor burns and bruises. Erza starting to feel a little cold noticed Natsu's warm body in her sleep and snuggled right up next to him to get warm. Her head finding a resting place in the crook of his neck.

Gray briefly split up with his guild members to look for the two. It shouldn't be hard as the area of damage was rather confined, which is saying a lot, considering how destructive he knew the two could be. He pushed away some bushes and entered the clearing, finally seeing the signature red and pink hair of his teammates. What caught his attention was not that he found them passed out, but the way Erza had herself wrapped around Natsu's torso as if claiming him as her own.

"Hey Mira, Happy, I found them." Gray said quieter than usual. Normally he wouldn't care about how loud he spoke, but Erza being asleep there made him quickly rethink the volume of his voice.

"Really? Whe-" Mira began before she saw the two sleeping. "Oh my." Mira brought her hands to her mouth. "They look so lovely together!" She nearly squealed.

"Natsu! Natsu!" Happy kept nudging his dear friend, only to get a slight murmur from Natsu.

"Ha…told you Erza….stronger now….All fired…up." He incoherently murmured before returning to deep sleep. His teammates only could decipher he was dreaming a conversation with Erza and about being fired up.

"Alright, let's get these two back to the guild and have them patched up." Gray said about to hoist Natsu up on his back.

"No. I think they are fine. They were simply exhausted. Besides, look how comfortable they look! Especially Erza. This is the first time I've seen her so content." Mira admired, happy that her friend changed for the better.

"Really? You think so? I say she might just be having a good dream, but I have never really cared to watch other people sleep. Erza being no exception." Gray just plainly stated. "Anyways, regardless of how they feel, it isn't the best idea to just leave them sleeping out here." he continued, knelt down and hoisted Natsu up on his back.

"Fine. Have it your way." Mira lamented, and quickly knelt down to pick Erza up. This action caused Erza stir in her sleep. "Natsu….come back…..cold….you're warm." Erza mumbled in her sleep with a small smile on her face." This caused Mira to giggle. She now has information to tease her with.

Happy on the other hand simply just rested on top of Natsu's head. While he claims he doesn't worry about Natsu, he was nonetheless relieved that nothing happened to him. How could anything happen to him? He was with Erza after all; the guild's strongest female mage.

About An Hour Later At The Guild

Mira, Gray, and Happy just walked in (Happy just remained resting on the unconscious Natsu's head) the guild, earning a few stares from the more prominent members.

"Oh my, are they going to be alright Mira?" A small blue haired bookworm asked.

Mira simply smiled, "Yes levy, they will be just fine. They apparently trained to the point of exhaustion and fell asleep out in the woods." She then continued to the medical bay with Gray following. Before entering however, she called out to a particular artist in the guild. "Hey Reedus, could you do something for me in a minute?"

"What? U-uh s-sure." Reedus nervously replied.

"What are you thinking Mira" Gray asked darkly. Not because he was angered or annoyed, but because he knew of Mira's mischievous streak, and because he's right next to her, he will be dragged in on it. The ultimate result? Being on the receiving end of one of Erza's [once] well known punishments.

"Oh, just something….'happy' I guess. Something for all of us to remember." The white haired beauty replied rather vaguely.

The two then entered the room with the beds side by side. Gray was about to flow Natsu on his bed and walk away but Mira stopped him. "Wait. Move one of these beds for me. To where it's right next to Natsu's." She requested

"So this is your plan, have Reedus draw a painting of these two sleeping? I don't see the point." Gray lamely stated as he did as she asked and pushed a bed up against the bed that Natsu now lay peacefully on. He really wasn't interested in these kind of things

"You don't have to, but the others will see it." Mira said with a small glint in her eye. She then gently set Erza down next to Natsu, not too close that she was on top of him almost, but close enough to where she can feel the warmth resonating off his body.

As Mira predicted, Erza subconsciously noticed this in her sleep and moved closer into Natsu; wrapping her arm around his torso to pull him into her and buried her head into his neck with a content smile on her face. Closely mirroring what the ice mage and former takeover mage saw when they found the two in the forest.

Mira quickly went back into the main hall of the guild and called for Reedus. "Reedus! Come here quickly!" She gestured for him to hurry to the medical bay.

Reedus quickly followed her to the bay and as he saw the two figures on the bed, he knew exactly what Mira wanted of him. He wanted him to paint a picture of the rather cute and romantic scene before them. "I understand." He said without a word being spoken to him, and began to paint a picture, quite quickly too.

In a few short minutes Reedus had the painting done and handed it over to Mira. Mira simply smiled brightly at this and raced out of the bay to see Makarov. "I don't know what goes on in that head of hers sometimes." A voice spoke out. Reedus turned to see Gray.

"I-I'm sure she won't do anything bad." He replied. True while Mira didn't mean anything bad, she was thoroughly going to enjoy what she could do now that she had this picture.

Later That Day

How long has he been out? What exactly happened? Where was he? Why does he seem to lack the strength to sit up? These question flooded a certain rose haired mage's mind as he came to. He felt a weight on his torso as he once again tried to sit up. What startled him was when he felt both this 'weight' move, and the softness of the of it. His eyes immediately shot open. He immediately noticed he was in the guild's medical bay laying on a bed. His mind turned back to what was on top of him. He managed to sit up just enough to look down and saw red hair, and a white top with a blue skirt.

'Oh. It's just Erza.' Natsu idly thought and returned to relaxing while staring at the ceiling. That is, until something clicked in his head. 'WAIT!? ERZA' he nearly screamed his thoughts. His face drained it's colored upon the realization that the Titania was laying on him. Her arms wrapped around his torso as if he was her property and her face tucked away in his sternum.

"Erza, get up." He nudged her. 'Oh I hope I don't get beat up for this.' Was his primary thought as he noticed Erza starting to budge.

"Natsu…stop…you're so warm and comfortable. It's too early to get up." She mumbled still not realizing what she was actually doing was not just a dream.

Erza fell back into deep slumber. Natsu thought all hope was gone until the doors opened to reveal the guild master and the guild's bartender, Mira.

"Help me." Natsu pleaded quietly. He wasn't physically uncomfortable. Actually he quite liked it, but he was afraid of what Erza would think he was doing when she finds out the position she was in.

Mira just giggled with a mischievous smile hidden carefully behind her everlasting smile. Makarov however, just closed his eyes and coughed into his fist. "Erza get up." He said sternly. This somehow, despite how much quieter it was compared to Natsu earlier, was enough to rouse the scarlet haired mage from her sleep.

"Huh? Where am I?" She said drowsily, looking at what she was laying on and noticed Natsu. "Natsu, why are you in my bed?" She asked with a blank face, not really mad at the prospect of her sharing a bed with Natsu.

Natsu became more scared. "W-w-what?! T-t-this isn't what it looks like." He studdered like no other. "This i-is the guild's medical bay."

Erza simply looked up and around and somehow didn't look behind her to see if anyone actually was around. 'He's right, we're in the guild, but how did we get there."

Mira just giggled quietly to herself. From her and the master's view, Erza looked as if she was about to do something dirty to the Salamander. She then decided to make Erza really embarrassed.

"Aw! Look! Our favorite couple about to do it in the guild. How Naughty of you Erza!" She announced; making it seem as if she just walked in.

Erza's head flipped around and saw it was indeed the white haired bartender along with the guild's master. She then turned to look at how she was basically straddling Natsu's waist. She quickly turned red. A shade so bright it put her signature hair color to shame.

"Kya!" She squealed and instantly jumped off the bed.

Everyone else in the room just stood surprised. Well, the only one visually showing it was Natsu. This was the first time she ever acted so…girly. Especially around him and the other two.

"W-w-we were not doing anything!" Erza desperately tried to explain. "I just happened to fall asleep next to him. That's all!

"Oh sure." Mira replied, her voice laced with sarcasm that Erza caught.

"WE WERE'NT." Erza basically screamed, her face still bright red.

"As much as it humors me to see you act like this Erza, I would like to talk about last night."

Shook out of his/her shock/embarassment, Natsu and Erza looked to the master with their faces looking confused.

"HOW THE HELL DO YOU LEVEL AND BURN A PORTION OF THE FOREST!?"

Erza and Natsu comically clung to each other out of fear. Starting to recount the events that brought the duo in this situation.

I hoped you like this chapter. I certainly had fun writing it given how fast I wrote it. Anyways, the next chapter will start with a Flashback of the two fighting. At least that's what I have planned at the moment. As for how long it will last: I doubt it will last the whole chapter but if it does. It won't stretch into two or anything. I intend to keep it brief. If you don't want me to go into a small flash back just say so. The majority will decide. Anyways, as for chapter length. I intend to make EVERY chapter AT LEAST 2,000 words. Yes that's not a lot, but any longer and you'd have to wait longer for. Anyways leave a suggestion and a review and I shall see you all later.