Cold winds lashed at his back. The chilly sea water swirled beneath him and made desperate lunges to drag him in, only to fail, fall back, and then try again.

He was shaking, but he didn't notice.

He didn't care about anything but the return of his best friend. Happy was going to come up soon, he was sure of it. He would come up with a smile and his trademark "Aye!", and then they would go back to Fairy Tail, with the same feeling of triumph they felt after finishing a mission.

Happy would come back up. He was sure of it.

He would wait for him to rise out of the water, no matter how long it took.


Lucy frowned as she looked out the compartment window on the train, watching the rainy fields flash by.

No one spoke - they were all lost in their own thoughts. It was rather weird for Natsu to disappear from Magnolia overnight. Their only way of finding him was with Wendy's nose. The young sky dragonslayer volunteered "to help look for Natsu-san".

Lucy, Erza, and Gray didn't object - none of them had the strong sense of smell dragonslayers did, and it would be a sure hassle to have to ask every single one of the townsfolk if they'd seen a pink haired mage around.

Erza and Gray had mutely agreed on going along with Lucy on the search. The celestial spirit mage didn't mind at all - she hated to admit it, but she was never very good at battles, and having her friends around provided her with safety and comfort.

Lucy almost missed the moans and groans Natsu made. Sure, it was annoying, but it made everything seem normal. The absence of the motion-sick dragonslayer brought upon a gloomy atmosphere in the train compartment.

It was still raining outside when the five got off of the train. If possible, it was raining even harder; Lucy's umbrella flipped inside out and nearly flew away. Fortunately, Gray helped her steady herself, though his clothes had mysteriously disappeared again, and rain was running in rivulets down his back and chest.

Erza led them to the nearest inn, named "Redview", and asked for two rooms.

The man at the front desk shook his head, apologizing. "There's supposed to be a huge hurricane soon. Everyone's booked a room. There's only one available room left, I'm afraid."

Erza sighed. "Alright. We'll take it." She handed the man a few jewels for their stay, and took the key the man gave her. "Third floor, room twenty-seven on the right."

"Thank you. Let's go, everyone. We'll be sharing a room." She turned and began lugging her huge load of baggage up the stairs without much effort, causing Wendy, Gray, and Lucy to sweatdrop slightly as they followed her up.

The room was fairly large, with two couches and one queen-sized bed. It was only two rooms, though - the bathroom and the main room, which had a kitchen, table, and living room squeezed into it.

Erza immediately began digging through her luggage for her strawberry cake container, ready to take a break. Carla and Wendy walked around the room, examining and exploring the cupboards and closet. Gray seemed to have just noticed the absence of his clothing, and was searching the room thoroughly.

Lucy sat down on the bed and looked out of the window at the stormy weather outside. She never liked rainy weather - it was something that brought her mood down. Sunny weather was the best - it wasn't scorching or took cold and depressing.

Redview happened to be by the ocean - Lucy could see the boats docked shaking as the water rocked them roughly. The water level seemed to be a little high, as sailors and dock workers were standing waist-deep in the water.

The mage sighed and lay down on the bed, closing her eyes and thinking. Wendy had traced his scent here, but there was only the ocean that was by them - there was no way they could go on -

Lucy sat bolt upright and jumped off of the bed, startling Wendy, Gray, and Carla (who was chewing Gray off for stepping on her tail). Erza was busy unpacking her cake container.

Lucy scooped up her keys and grabbed her umbrella and parka. "I'm going out for a walk," she said, answering the questioning faces of her comrades. "I need some fresh air."

"Fresh air in the rain?" Gray asked, raising an eyebrow suspiciously.

"Look, I'm not going to do anything bad. I just...need a walk outside." Lucy opened the door to their room. "I'll be back shortly."

"Be safe," Erza said without looking up from her cake. Gray stared at her as if burning a mental sentence into her. How could you let her go outside into the beginnings of a hurricane while you stay inside and eat cake?

He turned to Lucy. "I'll go with you," he offered.

"No, no, I need a little time alone." Lucy smiled and walked out of the door, hearing Wendy shout, "Come back safely, Lucy-san!"

The wind and rain seemed to have gotten stronger. Lucy's umbrella didn't do much anymore, so she closed it with some difficulty and pulled up her parka hood, struggling as she headed to the docks.

Lucy felt water seeping into her boots, feeling her feet get cold. It was best to hurry, she decided, and ran to the docks.

With a closer look, she realized all of the dock workers were shouting and pointing somewhere in the sea. Lucy shielded her face and squinted, but saw nothing through the howling wind and rain.

"Sir!" Lucy shouted, tapping on a man's shoulder. "Would you be as kind as to tell me what's going on?"

The man turned to look at her questioningly. Lucy sighed and bellowed, "WHAT'S GOING ON?"

The man made an "oh" face of realization, and he covered his face as well and yelled. "There's a young man out there. He's been standing on a rock out to sea for hours now, in the cold! We're yelling at him to come back, but he won't budge! No one dares to take a boat into the water, either - miss, where are you going?"

Lucy didn't wait for him to finish. She dashed to the nearest paddleboat and quickly untied it and let the water carry her to the dark shape in the sea.

The rock loomed out of nowhere. Lucy let out a sharp cry that was carried away by the wind and grabbed onto its rough surface. She felt the jagged edges of the rock cut into her palms painfully, but she didn't care.

When Lucy saw the familiar pink hair, hard to make out in the storm but still visible, she nearly cried with relief. "Natsu!" She screamed.

He didn't move.

Lucy leapt onto the rock and the paddleboat was immediately swept away, lost forever in the ocean. She pounded hard on Natsu's leg, screaming his name.

He seemed to finally realize that Lucy was there behind him. He turned, excruciatingly slowly, and saw her.

"Lu-" He began, but suddenly swooned and toppled over. Lucy screamed and grabbed his arms - his cold, cold arms - and managed to keep him from falling into the raging waters.

"Miss!" Came a shout behind Lucy, and she turned around in surprise, nearly letting go of Natsu.

The man she'd spoken to earlier was unsteadily standing on another paddleboat, two others paddling furiously behind him, doing their best to keep the boat from being swept away. He had his arms wide open, and Lucy nearly flung Natsu onto him and she leapt into the boat.

"Paddle! Paddle!" The man roared, and he seized his own set of oars and began furiously paddling. Lucy clutched Natsu close to her as they slowly made their way to the shore.

Another worker on land grabbed their boat and tied it up quickly. The man helped Lucy out of the boat and carried Natsu out. "Where do-"

"You're a brave young lady, miss!" Someone called out, and cheers erupted, followed by clapping that could've been mistaken for thunder. Lucy felt her cheeks flush and she smiled, despite the intense activity she'd just been through.

She turned and saw the man smiling. "You were very brave, miss. Now...is there somewhere I can help you take this lad?" He inclined his head towards the unconscious Natsu on his back.


Ten minutes later, Lucy entered their inn room dragging an unconscious Natsu. Gray shouted in surprise ("Where the hell did you find that flame bastard?"), Wendy rushed over to check on him, and Erza looked up, having just finished her third slice of cake.

Lucy decided to tell the story later. Gray slung the dragonslayer on his shoulders and tossed him on the bed rather roughly, frowning.

Wendy followed Lucy to the bed and examined him. Natsu's lips were tinged with blue and his skin was deathly white. He wasn't shivering and was completely still. If he was that cold, why didn't he light a fire? Lucy wondered, frowning a bit.

"He has hypothermia," Wendy reported, looking a little scared. "Quite severe, actually. Please let me concentrate for a little bit." With that, she closed her eyes and magic power surged through her, forming a glowing light and holding it close to Natsu. After a few minutes, Wendy collapsed, panting. Carla ran over, eyes wide with worry and ready to chew off anyone who asked the little girl to continue healing. Nobody did, however, because Natsu looked much better - some color returned to his skin and he shivered a bit.

Lucy quickly wrapped him up with the quilt on the bed. He seemed to be alright, though his brow was knitted with worry and something close to anger.

"Where's Happy, then? Wasn't he supposed to be with Natsu?" Erza looked up at Lucy, frowning.

Lucy sighed and sat next to Natsu and ran a hand gently though his wet hair and told the story without taking her eyes off of her comrade and best friend. When she finished, the room was quiet, not including the ragged breaths of Natsu.

Wendy got up. "I'll go look for Happy," she volunteered. "He must be around here somewhere."

Carla began to protest that she needed rest, but Erza nodded. "Take Gray with you, then."

Gray let out a sigh and walked over to Wendy, for once in his life catching himself from stripping his clothes. The two, followed by a very annoyed Carla, left.

Erza muttered something about a shower and headed to the tiny bathroom. Lucy simply sat on the squishy mattress. She gently reached under the covers and squeezed his hand, which was warming up but still cold.

Lucy noticed his hand was fisted around something very tightly. Frowning yet again, she pulled his hand out and pried his fingers open to reveal -

A small package, wrapped in what seemed to be wet velvet. Lucy turned the box over and read a small tag on the back.

"To Lucy"


Loooooong chapter, eh? I hope this will do because school has started and I'm already stuck with a project. Thank you to the three lovely people who followed the story - it makes me happy to know that it is actually not that bad!

A bienot!