Chapter 3 :HOME SWEET CAVE

Happy groaned and opened his eyes. His first attempt at sitting up failed and it took him a few minutes to gain enough energy to try again. On his next attempt he was successful but felt a sharp pain in his head and reached up to touch it, wincing. However, when his hand made contact with his head, he didn't feel his fur like he'd expected- it felt like cloth. With more prodding at the cloth he realized it was a bandage covering his head, no doubt from when he'd injured it from falling. He noticed they were in a cave, which was strange because the last thing he remembered was falling out of the sky over the forests, so he wasn't sure how they had gotten in here. Realizing that there had to be someone else there in order to drag them into the cave and dress Happy's wounds, he began to look around. Natsu was laying by his right- still unconscious, but on a small cot and a blanket was pulled up to his chin, tucking him in.

Outside it was nighttime, but Happy didn't have a clue as to how long he and Natsu had been there. As Happy looked in the cave, he began to observe his surroundings. The deep cave was surprisingly warm and comfortable. A large fire illuminated the dancing shadows as they leaped across the rocky walls. There was a wooden pantry, that Happy guess had food in it (Hopefully there was an ice box with fish). Next to that was huge bookcase, filled completely with books, scrolls, and papers all crammed together in organized chaos. A small table was hidden in the corner, and more books littered the surface, along with the occasional cooking utensil. A makeshift curtain separated the main cave to what Happy assumed to be a smaller room- he'd have to explore that later (Happy knew about the concept of privacy, he just didn't care).

Before Happy could look into it though, a cloaked figure appeared at the entrance of the cave. Happy quickly laid down again and feigned sleep, but peaked open his eye to watch. The cloaked figure, who turned out to be a woman, took off her cloak and placed it on a hook in the rock wall. The Exceed saw the woman had short, violet hair that appeared to have been crudely cut with a knife. Bangs covered her eyes, but as she moved, Happy saw ocean blue eyes. She was of average size, but she stood up straight with a noble woman. She wore leather knee high boots and black leggings. The untucked white blouse was partially covered with a long, brown, leather vest with red and gold trimming, and that was partially covered with what Happy guessed was a really fancy folded bed sheet.

She shivered and mumbled something about how cold it was and Happy quickly closed his eyes when he saw that she was walking towards him. She stopped in front of the fire and leaned in, letting the small flames warm her shivering body. Then she looked down at the cat and smiled

He felt a cool breeze on his fur when she passed him and risked another peek when he couldn't hear anymore movement. She had pulled a stool to the dragon slayers bed-side. The woman was currently dabbing a wet cloth on Natsu's forehead, Happy guessed trying to cool him off, which was stupid because he was a fire dragon slayer.

"Blue cat, I know you're awake." She casually said, not even turning around.

Happy stopped breathing for a second

How in the heck did she know I was awake? Her accent was hard to put into words, but it was beautiful. Happy sat up sheepishly, knowing that it was no use trying to hide it anymore.

The woman, still not turning around, leaned down and placed the cloth in the water and after a few seconds, she rung it out and placed it back on Natsu's forehead. She then sighed deeply and faced Happy. She smiled down at the Exceed kindly, but as Happy looked into her eyes, he saw a great sadness deep within- a pain that only came with old age or great sorrow.

Or both.

"So...," she began

"Happy."

"Alright, Happy, care to explain what in the hell happened to you two?"

The Exceed shifted uncomfortably, but for some strange reason, he felt as though he could trust her.

"We were walking along when we saw this ENORMOUS arm and Natsu got all mad...and.." Happy stopped, seeing something flash within the woman's eyes. After a few seconds the woman waved her hand, signaling him to continue. The cat obeyed and began again

"..and Natsu got mad, because the arm belonged to a dragon named Acnologia that killed his dad, Igneel."

The woman's face turned ghostly white as she processed what the cat had said.

"What is it?" the cat asked, noticing her actions. The hands stopped moving and she looked up again.

"Igneel… I knew he had disappeared a few years back, so I decided to wait here until he came back. He owed me some books." Happy's eyes widened, and he began looking around at the cave again.

"This isn't Igneels…"

The woman shook her head.
"Yes and no. Yes, this is Igneel's cave, but no it isn't. There are many tunnels throughout here and they all connect to the main cave, which is… or was, Igneel's main home."

"So pretty much we're in Igneel's old cave, but we're not technically in his cave?"

"Yep."

A few minutes of awkward silence.

"So who are you?"

The woman frowned, as if it was obvious.

"My name is Zera."

It wasn't until the people ran right through him that Natsu realized that he was dreaming. He had woken up in a field of scarlet flowers. The sun was high, and only a few white puffy clouds were scattered across the atmosphere. Natsu looked around, trying to see if he could maybe spot Happy, but the Exceed was nowhere to be seen. The dragon slayer recalled being blasted back by the arm's magic, but after that, everything was blank.

He began walking in a random direction, hoping to maybe find a town to maybe find out where exactly in Earthland he was. After what seemed about ten minutes, he finally saw someone.

"HEY!" Natsu called out, trying to get the woman's attention, but she apparently didn't hear him. The dragon slayer began to run to her and called out again. This time she turned around and Natsu stopped dead in his tracks. He didn't recognize her, but he knew that face from somewhere. Then he realized that she wasn't looking at him, but the something behind him. Natsu turned around, confused, and that's when the young couple walked through him, like he was a ghost.

Natsu's eyes shot open and there he was, face to face with the same woman from his dream.

"But fish is obviously the superior food!" Happy was saying and it took Natsu a minute to process the scene before him. The lady from his dream was sitting cross legged on the floor by a fire, chatting away with Happy- who had a bandage wrapped around his head- about fish. Then, he smelled it. He hadn't smelled that scent in months, and before that it had been years. The scent brought back memories of a childhood long gone and of late nights spent practicing dragon slayer magic. It was Igneel's scent- and this cave was part of his old home.

Natsu felt a single tear roll down his cheek, remembering the day he lost his adoptive father.

"I, Igneel, am with you!"

Natsu sniffed and quickly sat up, the bed creaking. The two people in front of the fire quickly turned to the source of the noise.

"NATSU!" Happy exclaimed, running up and climbed on the bed and into Natsu's arm.

"Happy..." Natsu managed. The woman from his dream by this time had stood up and made her way to the reunited friends. Then she did something that neither one was expecting.

She slapped Natsu across the face with a resounding SMACK!

(A/N

Hestia: Hello! Sorry about not updating last week! Every week we will attempt to update either Tuesday or Thursday….

So what did you guys think? R&R….

In other news I am currently watching Fairy Tail again...and I'm just laughing because they called Zeref's magic is LIFE magic…...hahaha….and Lullaby called Natsu a monster...haha….*pain* THE FORESHADOWING! LYRIA WE NEED MORE OF HER!

ALSO ITALICIZED BOLD IS ZARA OR NATSU SPEAKING LATIN! PLEASE KEEP THAT IN MIND AS WE CONTINUE

Vesta: It feels like we've been working on this chapter for so long… and yet we haven't updated and it's only about half the length of the first chapter… oh well. Hope you liked it; we'll be posting again in about a week! (Maybe).

(Bonus: As Natsu is looking around this is the conversation that Happy and Zara had

Z:"No, I'm going to have to disagree..according to my research it is either chocolate or the number forty-two"

H:"That makes no sense!"

N:"Yeah, well neither does fish")