Author's Note: Yuuki~desu! I've decided to upload new chappie as a parting gift. I'm leaving for Croatia tomorrow, so don't expect any new chapters in next two weeks. Also, since I don't want to lose any readers I'll tell you a bit of a spoiler. In 2 to 4 chapters you will know what happened to Lucy and who she is :) Enjoy!
Chapter 5: Fearful Silence
There was no way he could escape his torment. It was after all impossible to travel all the way to Poage without going by train..
"Natsu, hold on!" cried Happy. They were already travelling for two hours. To reach the train station closest to Poage, they have to travel 5 more hours.
"Natsu-san, please bear with it just a bit more. Only few hours left." Chirped now worried Wendy. That got Natsu to stand up and run out of their wagon in order to empty his poor stomach.
Gray just smirked. He was long since used to this scene. Now that Troia was ineffective on the dragon slayer, there was no way to help him. He turned his gaze away from the door in which his pink haired teammate disappeared and decided to instead study their unexpected additive member, Gajeel.
Everyone was surprised to find out he wanted to come with them, but his reason was understandable. Gajeel wanted to obtain any information that would lead him to Metalicana even though he was denying it as best as he could. Gray could relate to that. If Ul was missing and not melted inside ocean, he would do the same.
Erza was just sitting there, staring outside the window, not looking at anything particular. She was like that ever since they found out seven years have passed. While she was in guild, she would pretend to be her cheerful self, but her eyes would often wander to a window. I wonder what she's thinking about... thought Gray. When he realized his own thoughts, he shook his head in attempt to abandon them and followed Erza's example.
Everyone was acting almost like their usual selves. Well, everyone except Levy. Levy looked fine the whole time in guild, but ever since they got on the train she looked nervous, almost scared and now she was shivering a bit.
"Levy, are you alright?" asked very concerned Wendy. The person in question nodded her head, obviously lying. "Are you cold?" Levy knew that if she doesn't say anything, Wendy will get suspicious, but she just couldn't make herself say anything. She opened her mouth and a sob came out instead.
This caught even Erza's attention. "What's wrong Levy?" Levy thought about her options. She didn't feel like lying to them, but telling them truth would be embarrassing. Even so, she found herself saying how her feelings out loud. "I'm scared..." this was followed by another sob and her eyes were full of withheld tears. Jet and Droy started panicking. Their Levy-chan was starting to cry and they didn't know what to do.
"I'm scared... of dragons." she managed to say while tears rolled down her cheeks. "I know there is nothing to be scared of, I know that there are nice dragons like Igneel, Grandine and Metalicana. But every time I try to imagine them, I can only see Acnologia." she wailed the last word.
"There is nothing to be scared of." everyone's attention turned to the travel-sick mage whose return no one noticed. "Because we will protect you." said Natsu, showing them his well-known grin. Without thinking about it, Levy glanced at Gajeel, who just nodded in confirmation of fire mages's words. She blushed a bit at this. She trusted Gajeel and Natsu to keep their word.
Now that she calmed down a bit, she noticed something interesting. Natsu looked absolutely fine. No trace of his travel sickness and the tattoo on his right arm was glowing. It was almost unnoticeable glow, but it was there. I bet it has something to do with Natsu feeling better.
Without thinking twice about it, she took Natsu's forearm and started studying it. She was really interested in how it healed his travel sickness, but she also needed something to take her mind away from the embarrassing scene that occurred just seconds ago.
Back in her professional mode, she started asking Natsu questions. "How do you feel?" Puzzled as to why she would ask, he thought about it. Realization hit him. "I feel good. Great, in fact. But how? I felt like I was dying just five minutes ago." She nodded her head in acknowledgement and continued her examination. "The third layer of text is glowing slightly. Mostly its outlines and they are getting brighter by seconds." Satisfied, she let go of his wrist and fell back to her seat.
Everyone was now looking at her with expectation in their eyes. "It means that we are getting closer to our destination, and so the tattoo is gaining strength from that. Also it seems like my theories of the meaning of the third line were right. The tattoo is protecting him, even from himself..." Silence that ensued was smothering. More than shocked, it was spiked with fear. No one wanted to admit it, but by now, the question hung in air like a nearing storm.
What exactly is Lucy?