((Le 6th Chapter! Thank you to TenraiTsukiyomi again for their 5th review! Anyway, please enjoy this chapter, and as usual please review!))
Chapter 6: Loneliness
"…Is this really necessary?" Zeref asked, raising an eyebrow as Yuuki erected a tent.
"Yeah, I can smell a storm a few miles away, and we don't wanna get rained on, do we?" Yuuki told him.
"Fair point…but don't the surrounding trees act as shelter?"
"Yeah, but not enough shelter, so neh"
"Neh?" Zeref asked.
"Neh!" Yuuki said boldly.
"Neh…" Zeref frowned curiously.
Eventually, Yuuki got the tent up, and crawled inside with her backpack. Zeref cautiously peered inside.
"Well come in then!" Yuuki grinned patting the floor next to her. A torch hung from the top of the inside of the tent, serving as a light. Zeref crawled in next to her, as she lay out a mat and a sleeping bag.
"Hmm, I just thought, you don't have a sleeping bag, do you? You must get cold at night!"
"A little bit, but I have my toga, it serves as a blanket sometimes" Zeref told her.
"You can have my sleeping bag if you want, I've got a blanket I can use in my bag" Yuuki smiled.
"But won't you get cold-"
"I'm an ice wizard, I don't get cold" Yuuki laughed.
"Oh, of course…"
"So here, take my sleeping bag, I can get another one tomorrow in the town nearby" Yuuki said, handing Zeref the sleeping bag.
"Thank you…erm, Yuuki, how do I use this 'sleeping bag'?" he asked.
"There's a zip here…" Yuuki told him, undoing the zip, "You go inside the sleeping bag, and then zip the zip back up"
"Ok" Zeref said, wriggling into the very warm sleeping bag, getting rather drowsy. He zipped up the zip, as Yuuki got out a very thin looking blanket, and switched off the torch.
"Night Zeref" she mumbled sleepily.
"Goodnight Yu-"he was interrupted by a loud snore, and Yuuki flipping over, her arm landing next to his head, and her leg over his, as Zeref lay straight and stiff as a board.
How Zeref missed Yuuki's loud snoring, and her tossing and turning as she slept, and her occasional talking in her sleep. She often said funny things, like "Natsu that's my apple, get your paws off", or "Gray don't make me freeze your dick again" - very random things that amused, and confused Zeref. Sometimes she just said people's names, Like Natsu, Erza, Gray and Lisanna – mainly people Zeref didn't know, but eventually she started saying Zeref's name in her sleep…accompanied with "Don't touch my cake", followed by an explanation as to what cake is. Zeref missed Yuuki a lot, but he was still angry with her for when she had sex with someone else. Or at least that's what he thought she had done - the feelings she were having at the time felt very sexual to Zeref, which left him wondering who the man was that had caused Yuuki to have these feelings, and vowed to repay him for touching his Yuuki.
Natsu was on his own, as usual these days, when Happy, accompanied by Gray and Gildarts came up to him – he had been drinking sake in his room.
"What do you want?" he slurred at the three concerned males.
"We're worried about you, Natsu" Gray told the drunk male. Over the past few days, Natsu had gotten paler, and gained purple bags under his eyes. His pink hair was all over the place.
"Yeah, as if you care, fuckin' stripper boy" Natsu slurred, gulping down some more sake. Gildarts smacked the sake away from him, leaving it to smash on the floor.
"What did you do that for, asshole?!" Natsu growled, getting to his feet.
"I think you've had enough sake, Natsu" Gildarts responded, his arms folded as he towered above the drunken youth.
"Fuck off, Gildarts, I don't need you lecturin' me, I don't give two shits about what you, or stripper boy, or the fuckin' flyin' cat have to say!" Natsu slurred angrily.
"Natsu…" Happy sniffed.
Gray and Gildarts punched Natsu in the face and stomach, making him groan in pain.
"You're pathetic, Natsu" Gray told Natsu.
"You're a mess , boy" Gildarts sighed.
"Like I give a fuck!" Natsu coughed. "I think I'm gonna puke…"
Happy sniffed again, trying not to cry.
"Can't you see you're hurting people acting like this? Everyone's worried about you, man" Gray told Natsu, a concerned look in his eye.
"Really? Who?"
"Everyone; Me, Gildarts, Happy – especially Happy – Lucy, Erza, Lisanna, Mirajane, Elfman, all of Fairy Tail, basically – and the rest of the army" Gray told him.
"Yuuki's worried about you as well, and she blames herself for your behaviour" Gildarts mentioned to Natsu.
"She does?"
"Yep, so please, for the sake of everyone, stop acting like this!" Gray ordered. Natsu sniffed.
"I just…I don't know what to do anymore…" Natsu confessed, looking at the floor.
"Talk to Yuuki" Gildarts suggested. "Or us, or anyone. We're all willing to help you. But you do need to talk to Yuuki"
"Yeah…I know…"
"C'mon, man let's clean you up" Gray reassured Natsu, supporting him to his feet again.
"Where are we going?" Natsu asked, his words still slurring.
"To get you in the shower, you reek of booze and sweat" Gray joked slightly.
"And to empty your stomach, that'd be a good idea" Gildarts chuckled.
"You look like you could do with some sleep" Happy suggested floating him.
"Some coffee will help sober you up, so I'll go find you some" Gildarts said, strolling away.
"Happy, go get Natsu some clean clothes, k?" Gray asked Happy, who nodded and flew back to their room. Gray then half carried, and half dragged a drunken Natsu to the shower room.
"I feel sick…" Natsu slurred. Gray sighed, and carried him to a nearby toilet, in which Natsu vomited up his guts. Gray rubbed Natsu's back as he coughed and spluttered into the toilet.
"I think I'm done pukin' now" Natsu mumbled, spitting into the toilet bowl.
"Good" Gray said, picking Natsu up again and dragging him to the shower.
"Can you stand?" Gray asked.
"Yeah"
"Good, my back is killing me from hauling your ass around everywhere" Gray chuckled. Natsu half smiled.
"Thank you, Gray, for helping me out…I was bein' a right jerk earlier" Natsu coughed guiltily.
"It's ok, come on get in the shower" Gray ordered, patting Natsu's back.
"What? I'm not getting naked in front of you!" Natsu yelled defensively.
"I'm not gonna watch you dumbass!" Gray yelled back.
"Owww, let's not yell, my head's poundin'" Natsu winced.
"Alright, I'm gonna turn away now so you can get in the shower" Gray said, turning his back to Natsu. He only turned back around when he heard the shower start up, and got rid of Natsu's dirty and smelly clothes, and then flushed the vomit-filled toilet. Happy then arrived along with Gildarts; Happy carrying a change of clothes for Natsu, Gildarts a coffee and sandwich for Natsu.
"How is he?" Happy asked.
"Better, he puked his guts up, which wasn't pretty, and then got in the shower" Gray said. Happy and Gildarts nodded, as Natsu yelled for a towel. Happy floated over and handed one to him, one paw over his eyes. Natsu emerged from the shower with wet hair, and looked a lot fresher, smelling of pomegranates, not a sweaty brewery. Gildarts handed him the coffee.
"This should help you sober up a bit more" Gildarts told him, as he gulped down the coffee.
"The sandwich will help you feel a bit better, and fill up your empty stomach" Happy said, handing over the sandwich.
"Got it, thanks" Natsu said, his mouth full of sandwich.
"Now all you need is some sleep, and you should be feelin' fine" Gildarts grinned.
"Eh, I'll skip on the sleep, I'll get some later – I'm gonna go talk to Yuuki now" Natsu told them.
"What? But you still look like a mess! …And you're in a towel…" Gray pointed out.
"I'll get dressed first"
"Still, you need a bit more colour to ya, boy, and you need to get rid of those bags – you don't want her seein' you like this" Gildarts advised.
"He's got a point, Natsu" Gray agreed. Natsu chewed his lip.
"So, shall I sleep for a while then?" he asked.
"I think you should, it'll do you some good" Gray patted his shoulder. Natsu nodded, and the three other males left the room whilst Natsu got dressed.
Later, Yuuki had called a meeting, which meant, for Natsu, no talk with her. She had announced that they were going to attempt to save the Magic Council, which first involved several teams, put together by Cana's divination.
"My predictions have come through; the teams are: Natsu, Gray and Laxus. Levy, Evergreen, Elfman and Erza. Yuuki, Gajeel, Pantherlily and Happy. Lucy, Me, Wendy and Carla. Lyon, Juvia, Jellal and Meredy. Ultear, Wakaba and Macao. Gildarts, Bixlow and Fried…those are the right amount of numbers, right Yuuki?" Cana asked.
"Yep, perfect…although the teams are a little odd" Yuuki raised an eyebrow.
"It's what the cards say…" Cana said, double checking the cards.
"I'm with Juvia" Lyon grinned giddily.
"I want to be with Gray-sama" Juvia wailed. Gray just sweatdropped at their messed up love-triangle.
"It should be fine, just remember, our goal is to rescue as many members of the magic council as possible, team Natsu will be stationed on the east side of Zeref's castle, Team Levy will be stationed on the north, Team Me will go in through the front gates, Team Lucy - the back gates. Team Lyon will be stationed on the west side of the castle, Team Ultear will be stationed on the south, team Gildarts you three will be posted at separate points around the castle; Fried I want you to set up some runes so none of the Dark Wizards or Zeref can follow us when we leave, and the three of you will take care of any dark wizards trying to escape, or follow…or you can just step in if there's a huge ass fight, is that clear to everyone?" Yuuki asked.
"It's clear…but what do we do after that?" Fried asked.
"I was getting to that" Yuuki insisted. "After I give out the signal – it'll be a huge pillar of ice - you all infiltrate and try to get to the dungeon where the magic council will be held – those that try to stop you, get rid of immediately" Yuuki ordered.
"As in kill, seriously injure, or K.O?" Gajeel asked.
"Whatever floats your boat, just try to get out as many Magic Council members as possible, that all clear?" Yuuki asked.
"Yep!" everyone called out.
"Good, those that are stayin' here, be on standby for if we need backup, ok?" Yuuki ordered the others, who nodded.
"We leave in an hour"
((DUNDUNDUN? I dunno. Hope you all enjoyed this chapter, I'll update soon! Cx
Please review?))