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Chapter 3
Spring had come and gone since her dream of the man with red eyes. The small buzz in the village about her dream had passed amongst the warriors. They still kept on alert about it, but to say they were slacking on being high alert is an understatement. All of them relaxed except Gray and Lily. Levy's training with Lily not only continued, but became more in depth with what he was teaching her. He showed her just where to strike, how hard, and what to follow up with after making contact or even if the strike failed.
Summer had finally made it's appearance, which meant something very exciting for the tribe, powwows. Summer was a time for celebrating, dancing, drumming and everyone gathering. Summer solstice was just a week away and the women were already deciding what bright and colorful clothing they was going to wear, while the men of the tribe was drumming to get back into the unity of not having played all winter. The little village was a buzz of excitement.
While everyone is getting ready for the solstice Lily and Levy are out once more in the woods training. This time instead of hand to hand they are practicing with the tomahawk. Lily had took a chunk of wood big enough to hit and placed it against a tree for Levy to use for a target. That had been some time ago and there was about to even less of a target for her to hit, to say Levy was a natural was putting it lightly. It had taken a little bit of time, but once she found out just where to hold it that was perfect for her the weapon flew through the air gracefully with a satisfying thwack every time it hit the target.
"I think you've got a hang of this little flower" Lily chuckled at Levy as she went to retrieve the tomahawk from the hunk of wood. Levy placed her foot against the wood and grabbed the wooden handle of the tomahawk and removed it from the target. She turned around to face Lily once more and smiled at him. "You haven't called me that since we was young kids." She placed the tomahawk into his awaiting hand after she made her way back over to him. He gently grasped the handle and placed an arm around her shoulders as he turned them around to head back to the village. Levy felt Lily's arm shake and his ribs vibrate with laughter. "Well it is your name." They managed to work their way out of the woods and back to the village. Levy felt a cool summer evening breeze once they stepped from the lining of the trees. It ruffled her skirt and hair, instantly cooling her neck which was covered in sweat and caused the skin to raise. She looked up to Lily and saw his arms were the same way since he wasn't wearing a shirt. They looked to the West and saw the sun was setting peacefully on the horizon. Levy slightly leaned against Lily. A ghost of a smile graced her soft pink lips and Lily couldn't resist smiling himself, it wasn't often they got moments like this one. They was about to start walking back when in the golden rays of the setting sun they saw a young man running towards them at full speed and he had midnight blue hair. He stopped just a couple feet away from Levy and Lily. His breathing was labored and Levy rushed to his side and helped him stand up."What is it Romeo?" Levy bit her lower lip softly as she looked between the two men as she waited for Romeo to catch his breath, concern instantly filled her previously peaceful eyes. Romeo finally caught his breath and straightened up, but didn't brush Levy's hand off that was on his arm. He looked Lily straight into his eyes and said the words Lily bad been dreading for months. "They are here."
"Land!" Hearing that cause everyone to perk up and rush to the sides of the boat. There were more people than original intended on this mission, for one Elfman's sisters came with them. He kept shouting out something about how a man doesn't leave his sisters behind without protection. Even though they all know Mirajane can handle herself, she wasn't called She Devil for nothing. Cana came along with claims of wanting to see the New World, but Gajeel knew it was in hopes of new alcohol. Sting and Rouge was hiding some where on the ship, but he didn't bother with finding them. They would come out once they hit land. Gajeel looked around for Natsu who was of course looking green with sickness. Honestly, what Viking gets sea sickness? Gajeel sighed and shook his head as he walked over to Natsu. He kicked Natsu's boot causing him to look up at Gajeel. "Hey, land is just ahead. Can you make it?" Natsu slowly nodded and immediately regretted it as he curled up into a tiny ball. Gajeel felt the boat hit the shore and he bent over, picked Natsu up and draped him over his shoulder. He carried the sick Natsu down the ladder onto the shore once they was away from the boat and out of the water he dropped Natsu down onto his back on the ground, without much care if he was okay. Gajeel walked off and headed to the woods while everyone unpacked.
He began checking out the surrounding area. There were many trees in the area making it hard to see too much at once. Gajeel could hear a town not too far from where they landed. He began his trek back to the ship, where naturally they was all waiting on him. Someone, not mentioning names had set aside some stuff for him to carry. He looked over to Mira and got the sweetest smile, that didn't quite reach her eyes. Her eyes spoke volumes of you better pick that and carry it all with no complaints. Gajeel quickly picked up everything left for him and began walking back the way he came without a word, knowing they would follow him without question.
They had been walking for some time before they saw the small town. They stopped before entering the town. Gajeel placed his stuff on the ground and walked closer to the settlement. Gajeel placed his stuff on the ground and walked closer to the town, but still hidden within the trees. He noticed immediately these were not the people his father spoke of, these people were dressed differently than the way Metalicana described. "These must be the settlers.." He said to no one in particular. He turned back around and looked at everyone. " Natsu and I will go into the town to check things out and see what we can find out." At the mention of his name he quickly dropped his things to the ground and quickly walked over to Gajeel. He earned a harsh glare from Mira and Erza for being so careless with their things. Natsu didn't see it, but he felt the power behind the stares and cringed as he began to walk to town without Gajeel. "Everyone just relax and stay in the woods. We will be back." Everyone nodded as he walked away to catch up to a terrified Natsu.
They walked aimlessly around before finally began to ask people where the village was located. The first person they asked was rather rude and kept mumbling savages and gave them a sneer before walking away. The two men looked at each other in confusion. What was that about? The second person they stopped gave them a confused look and when it finally clicked what these men wanted he simply snorted and said "Who the savages? You don't want to bother with them boys. They are dangerous." The older gentlemen proceeded to quickly turn on his heels and walk away. Finally they found a young woman who left Natsu, for the first time in his life speechless. Her hair looked like gold and shone beautifully in the sun. It appeared she has a halo at the top of her head and soft golden locks flowed down to the middle of her back. She had sapphire eyes that sparkled with happiness and joy. Those beautiful eyes locked onto Natsu in an instant and his breathing stopped once he noticed she was walking up to them. Gajeel was the first to break the silence. "Ello, we was wondering if you have heard of a village of people around here." Her eyes slowly drifted from Natsu's to look at Gajeel. "Um. Yes actually if you head West and keep going you'll find it. It's a bit outside of town actually." As soon as she stopped talking she looked back at Natsu as she let her eyes linger on him. She allowed her eyes to sweep over the pink haired man before her. His hair matched the color of her dress, his onyx eyes shone brightly and seemed to crackle with energy. He was wearing the oddest shirt, it had only one sleeve and it was open like a jacket showing off his finely sculptured abdominal muscles and she quickly tore her eyes off the young man. Her face instantly turned a deep red and she covered her face with her fan just in time to hear, "Lucy? Is everything okay dear?" She looked behind her and a young man came walking up to her and placed an arm around her waist and gently pulled her closer to him, as if to signify to these men that she was spoken for. She looked up at the man before her with his bright orange hair and had brown eyes so dark they appeared black. Lucy cleared her throat and looked at the two men before her, the one with black hair looked almost bored and the pink haired one looked upset. "Everything is fine Leo. They was just asking about the village so I told them how to get there." He looked down at her as she looked back up at him as he slowly nodded. "Okay dear, but we must get going. Your father is waiting on us." Natsu noticed the girl named Lucy stood up straighter at the mention of her father as the man turned her around and they began walking away. All Natsu could do was watch her walk away with another man. Gajeel nudged him after letting him watch the couple for a moment. "Let's go Natsu." He shook his head to snap out of what ever it was that was wrong with him and followed Gajeel West.
Little did either man know that since they arrived they was being followed silently in the woods. Their little follower began running at full speed to get back the village through the woods as to not be caught. All he knew was that he had to warn Lily.
As Romeo spoke Levy watched Lily with close intent, waiting for a reaction whether it was good or bad. Levy watched as his once happily shinning green eyes slowly darken and sharpen to match the stone they favored. Levy slowly reached out and grasped Lily's hand almost as if to comfort him or maybe just to comfort herself.
After Romeo stopped talking Lily and Levy looked at each both searching for something within each others eyes both silently hoping the other had a plan or even answers. Romeo who had not moved away from them looked away. The silent conversation was almost too private to watch even though he understood nothing that was going on between the two people before him.
Finally after the longest silence Romeo had ever experienced Levy broke the silence. "Let us see what they do first. We do not know why they came here." She looked back up at Lily as he slowly nodded, the darkness in his eyes refusing to leave even as he smiled down at Levy. Levy faced Romeo and began walking past him with Lily closely behind her, his eyed watching every where around him. He would occasionally look back to Levy to only have his eyes go back to the woods. He was so busy watching around him that he didn't notice Levy had stopped and had the most radiant smile on her face. Before he could ask her what was going on, Levy turned, quickly grabbed his hand and, began running towards the village. "Lily! The drum! They got it back out!" They looked like an odd pair to on lookers. Levy this small girl with sky kissed hair and golden brown eyes so full of excitement and life while dragging a man who looked like a mountain next to her with hair as black as night and emerald eyes full of concern but once he looked at the young lady dragging him his eyes would spark to life. They was like night and day.
They arrived at the village in a matter of moments, as soon as they did Levy let go of Lily and ran into her wigwam. After several moments she came bursting out in a rush. Levy had changed her clothes. She was now wearing a yellow and green cloth skirt, the colors alternating, a yellow tunic with green short sleeves, she had tanned leather moccasins on and her hair was held back by a green head band. She quickly ran to the sound of the drum, simply hearing the drum excited and calmed her at the same time. Lily followed behind her and he couldn't help but to smile at the young woman before him as he watched her in excitement.
The trio joined the rest of the tribe at the arena. In the center of the giant arena was a massive drum made of wood and hide. The smell of sage and burning wood wafted through the air. A large group of men were around the drum and in perfect sync were hitting the drum with their sticks, their voices, although totally different tones, were in perfect harmony as they sang to sky while the sun was setting. Levy could feel the rhythm of the drum flowing through her, calming her body and awakening something much deeper. Slowly her head began to nod to the beat of the drum and she threw her bright yellow shawl around her shoulders causing the yellow, green and orange fringe to swing and the colors flow together. She stepped up to the arena only to be greeted by Gray with the smudging bowl. Levy held out her arms to her sides and Gray began the process of smudging. After cleansing out the bad emotions, thoughts and spirits they both whispered "Aho" and he let Levy pass into the circle. She began tapping her feet and moving her whole body with the beat. Much like the other dancers around her she moved gracefully like a butterfly, her arms dipped and swung around her as she danced around the drum. She would throw in a twirl every now and then and the fringe on her shawl would flow and almost shimmer in the setting sun. Never once did the smile leave Levy's face. Men and women would dance next or around her and they would all share the same smile and the sound of the drum would direct all their movements. Lily sat back and watched Levy dance, his foot tapping to the drum. Lily let his eyes wonder around checking out the area around them just to be safe. His eyes travels up a hill that was directly across from him that was looking down at the village. At first he only saw pink and then he caught the sight of red. A pair of curious crimson eyes held onto a pair of cold emerald eyes and they held that contact for many moments. Both men refusing to budge and give in, and neither moved a step forward. Lily stayed on the log near the drum and the red eyed man stayed up in the hills. At least, for the time being.