Hello there! Welcome to chapter eight! How are you all enjoying the new episodes of the Fairy Tail anime? I know I'm enjoying them, along with the new manga chapters but I won't give spoilers. *giggles*

We have another little part from Natsu's POV in the beginning which is why the little chapter title isn't right below this. So a little bit from him and then back to Lucy. This chapter is a bit of a filler, I won't lie, but it gets stuff movin'. XD

Anyway, I hope you enjoy! :D

"Oy, oy oy oy stop squirmin'," Gajeel muttered, stumbling in a squiggly pattern as he plodded along. Isis was on his back again, flailing around and violently pointing to the ground. She'd asked him multiple times to put her down and told him that she could walk on her own, but he seemed to not believe her.

Jobs had always been the number one source of excitement for Natsu, this one being no exception. In fact, this quite possibly was his most exciting job yet, solely because of the fact that dragons were involved. He couldn't remember the last time someone had actually had a lead on Igneel. People laughed when he said dragons were real, people pointed and whispered when he said his father was a dragon, and quite honestly, it was wearing him down.

Of course, it wasn't wearing him down enough to actually stop looking for his dragon. Of course not. He figured hell would have to freeze over before he stopped looking for Igneel, but it did get a little old having to try and convince everyone that yes, he was telling the truth.

Maybe it was because dragons were involved, but he was actually having a good time. Speaking of time… they were making good time too. They'd left Shagotte's about two hours ago and going by the smell of things they were only several miles away from the train station.

Ugh. Trains. He and Gajeel had been outnumbered in the vote for transportation.

They'd deciphered the map a bit together and had figured that wherever it was, it appeared to have mountains. And if you were looking for mountains more than just the snowy hills near Magnolia, they were going to be traveling a long way. Levy had said that the east side of the region had mountains like Gajeel and Natsu described. They said they were tall and pointy with trees seemingly sticking off completely horizontal from them. Levy said that the Barbaric Mountain Range was known for its oddly growing trees.

And in the end, after they'd calculated exactly how far away that mountain range was, it had been completely out of the question to walk. It'd take them months. So those Mavis-forsaken locomotives had been brought up.

And once again, maybe it was because of the prospect of dragons but Natsu wasn't quite so bummed about it. Sure he felt like puking out his guts at just the thought but he wasn't whining. He figured if it was the fastest way to get wherever they were going, it'd be worth it.

He once again did a head count. Lucy, Levy, Gajeel, Isis, Happy, Lily, and… himself of course. Yep, everyone was still here. He'd been doing annual headcounts because Lucy had been voicing her worries about losing someone, mainly Isis. Maybe that was why Gajeel was refusing to let her down.

Speaking of Isis… Natsu didn't know what to think of her. She was kinda like Wendy in a lot of respects. She was small, had blue hair, was kinda sweet, but he still wasn't sure. It was all just kinda sudden, both her appearance and how well she'd taken to the situation. Natsu couldn't fathom showing up in the future, but if he did, he sure thought that either A- he'd be running around asking about the outcomes of Grand Magic Games in the past or B- he'd be in absolute shock. He figured he'd probably do a bit of each. Of course Fairy Tail would win future Grand Magic Games though, so maybe he didn't need to ask.

As much as he was a bit weary of Isis, he was also absolutely enthralled by her. If she really was from this village who had been run by a King who was the very first Dragon Slayer ever, then she was probably a treasure trove of interesting information.

He'd wanted to ask her questions nonstop during their commute to the train station but he'd refrained. He was curious, but he figured he probably shouldn't bombarde her with questions. Surely they'd have some time for that later when they'd gotten to know her better.

"Gajeel if she wants down you should probably let her down," Levy giggled as Isis began reaching for the ground more violently. She looked like a tiny toddler in her actions even though Natsu guessed she was probably around ten.

Isis' face lit up and she nodded. "Please? I can keep up I promise!" she said, clapping her hands excitedly as Gajeel rolled his eyes and leaned down to let her off. She plopped onto her feet and trotted in place excitedly. She was still barefooted. They'd found her in tattered clothing and hadn't been able to find her much.

Shagotte had somehow gotten a small blue dress for the girl that fit surprisingly well. Isis had seemed to like it and hadn't been phased in the least by not having shoes.

Isis grinned at all of them, seemingly out of her mind with joy in just being around other people.

It was quiet for a bit, all of them walking in silence aside from Happy and Lily chatting in the back and Isis quietly humming to herself in happiness. Lucy and Levy had been two chatterboxes throughout the first half hour of walking but had quieted down as they began to tire.

Oop, time for another headcount. Lucy, Levy, Gajeel, Happy, Lily, Isis, and… oh yeah himself. Yep, everyone was here, all seven of them.

Gajeel looked over his shoulder with a devious smile. "Oy Shrimp, wanna ride?" he asked, holding out his hands like he had been for Isis' piggyback ride.

Natsu looked back to Levy just in time to see her flush a bright red, Lucy giggling at her side and nudging Levy with her elbow.

Levy stumbled over her words, twiddling her thumbs and trying to come with an excuse. Gajeel didn't wait, instead 'gihi-ing' to himself and pacing back toward her, snatching her by the elbow and hoisting her up and onto his back. She squealed, her blush trickling down her neck as she suddenly looked like Isis, struggling for Gajeel to let go.

He didn't pay attention, instead stomping on ahead and chuckling to himself pridefully. Pridefully… Natsu frowned. What was there to be prideful about? He'd snatched a girl and made her blush… oh… he'd heard about something like that from Mira.

Suddenly he didn't want to be outdone. That bastard Gajeel wouldn't best him in anything from snorting like a pig to snatching a girl and gosh darnit Natsu Dragneel was going to show him that!

"Luce!" he yelled, whirling around with a gleam in his eyes. She squeaked in surprise.

"What?" she asked, stopping in her tracks and looking a bit hesitant. She eyed him carefully.

"Help me out!" he said with a nod and a fist pump, stalking back to grab her by the wrist. A very lengthy and awkward-looking thing happened then. To any bystander watching Natsu and Lucy it would've looked as if they had completely lost their minds. They might've guessed they were having a fight… or a tickle fight… or something…

Lucy protested, blushing just as Levy had, which Natsu took it as a sign he was doing the right thing. He grinned like an idiot as he continued to try and get Lucy onto his back, both of them yelling at each other incoherently and squealing and squeaking and grunting and really just looking like a big mass of limbs. Lucy was about the same height as he was, whereas Levy was eons shorter than Gajeel; Natsu figured that was the problem and why it was so difficult.

He became more determined. Dammit if Gajeel could hoist a tiny girl onto his back he'd hoist a normal-sized woman onto him and walk even faster! He'd best that iron-eating dillweed if it was the last thing he did!

After what seemed like an eternity, their very weird scramble ended, Natsu successfully getting Lucy onto his back, cackling uncontrollably to himself as she smacked her hands over her face and tried to keep her skirt from riding up, galloping off ahead and yelling back at Gajeel and Levy as they passed them that they could suck it, and that the slow ones always ate rotten bacon or something like that. He couldn't remember the correct term but it didn't matter, he was winning.

And as Gajeel yelled out, growling in anger and tearing off ahead and after Natsu, the three nearly silent members of the group seemingly left behind, shook their heads and snickered to each other. They may have been the three youngest, but they didn't look it compared to those four romping weirdos.

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Chapter 8: The Beginning of a Journey

I yawned as the scenery trailed by outside the window in a blur. Natsu had commented on how fast we'd made it to the train station riding on Dragon Slayers and while yes, at first I was embarrassed, now… he was actually right. We'd gotten there in time to catch a train that Levy'd been absolutely sure we'd miss by a good fifteen minutes.

I yawned again. Man, I was tired. We'd been through quite the day, after all. Without exactly a happy ending. Raven Tail had all the pieces of the staff now. We'd actually failed in the job, we were just trying to correct it now. And I sure hoped we could.

Natsu groaned and I looked down to my lap. He'd quite nearly passed out from nausea when we'd boarded, and as per usual, his head ended up on my legs. I'd gotten used to it by now. At first I was a flustered mess, having Natsu so close and his head just… it was embarrassing, but after job upon job of us sitting like this on trains, it wasn't so weird anymore.

I smoothed his hair out of his face, unable to suppress the smile. He was kinda cute when he was sleeping, even if he was sweating up a storm, his eyebrows pinched and undoubtedly bad dreams coursing through his head about transportation.

We'd boarded the train just in time to realize we'd completely left Happy, Lily, and Isis behind. Panic had set in but a few moments later Happy and Lily appeared, carrying the girl whose eyes were wider than the moon as two flying cats swooped her to safety. She'd been very confused but ultimately incredibly happy.

She'd absolutely loved the two Exceeds after that. In fact, she was still sitting with one on each of her legs, Happy enjoying the attention and Lily trying to act like he didn't. She was petting and snuggling them, and it was quite the cutest sight.

I sighed again, peering out the window. I wasn't quite sure what to make of everything. I'd thought I'd had it all figured out when we'd left Shagotte's but in walking to the station, I'd realized maybe I didn't. I'd just figured we'd be able to help Isis, I'd just figured it'd all go smoothly, but the cold hard truth was: it probably wouldn't.

Things had a way of working out for Fairy Tail and its members but still… I couldn't count on something so unpredictable. Maybe we wouldn't find Raven Tail. What then? Maybe we wouldn't find them, maybe they'd get the staff together, maybe something horrible would happen. We had no control over it right now. It was absolutely scary if I thought about it for too long, instead opting to stare out the window and try to get everything off of my mind.

I needed to take it one step at a time. Focus on the present and worry about the future when it came. That's all any of us could do.

Levy'd said that the train we were on should take us as far east as trains went. She said we'd be on it for a good day and a half at best, which prompted both Natsu and Gajeel to pale in horror. Natsu was passed out though, so I doubted he'd still mind as long as he could sleep the entire way. Gajeel was trying to play it tough, sitting with his arms crossed and his face nearly green as he did everything he could to look like he was absolutely fine and not affected in the least by the movement.

I looked back down to Natsu, spotting the piece of paper that was quite literally our only lead crumpled up in his hand. I slowly unclasped his fingers, peeling the paper out of his grasp and looking it over. Still just as confusing as it had been when I'd first seen it. Maybe even more so.

I squinted at it closer. It was rapidly dimming outside of the train window. Levy had taken out a book and was quickly browsing through it. She'd been absolutely fixated on finding out more about Almia. She still swore she'd read something about its geography somewhere and was trying to find it. She only had a few books with her, some "light" reading material which looked more like a dictionary to even me, a book lover. She'd said she doubted it was in the book she had, but it was worth a look. She had a tiny book light clipped onto the end and I nodded.

I could barely see the text on the paper it was becoming so dark. She really thought ahead.

I turned to Isis, watching as she gently sat both Happy and Lily onto the seat across from us and next to Gajeel. The Iron Dragon Slayer looked down to the cats beside him, both nodding off slowly, and frowned. He looked a bit jealous that they could fall asleep so easily when he was so sick he could barely see straight.

"So, what was Almia er… the Village of Peace like?" I asked, looking down to her on my right. She looked a tad surprised that I'd asked, her eyebrows flying to her hairline before she smiled.

"Well, it was… home," she said carefully. "It felt nice and safe and everyone was just… comfortable." She fidgeted slightly, looking a tad uneasy.

"It's nice when you can say someplace feels like home, isn't it?" I asked quietly, leaning my head back into the wooden slats behind me. I hadn't truly felt that feeling until Fairy Tail. Some thought happiness was the best feeling, I disagreed. Being content and feeling safe was definitely when I was happiest and I felt that way around my guild mates more than with anyone else.

Isis nodded. "It is. It's really nice."

I peered out of the corner of my eye at Levy. She was still concentrating but I figured I could help her out a tad. "What was the Village of Peace like physically?" I asked. "Was it cold? I've heard countries in the east are really cold."

Isis bit her lip before shrugging. "We had pretty drastic seasons. One day it was blisteringly hot and the next it was freezing cold. I personally preferred the winter over the summer just because everything looked so pretty with snow on it, but most liked the summers better. Our King enjoyed winter, though," she said with a sigh.

"Were there mountains there?" Levy asked without looking up from her book, her glasses taking in the reading material at incredible speeds.

Isis nodded. "Oh you bet. Our entire village was surrounded by mountains so high you couldn't see the tops of some. They just went up into the clouds and…" She reached her hands to the ceiling of the train car. "Poof, they were gone into the heavens. It was really quite beautiful. Also probably the only thing that kept the dragons at bay in the beginning before the King got his staff," she nodded to herself.

Levy nodded before holding out her hand to me. "Can I see the paper again, please?"

"Sure." I handed it back to her, Natsu grumbling unhappily in his sleep as I jostled his head. Levy looked at it again before handing it to Gajeel beside her.

"Natsu said he saw mountains and that he thought this was a map. He's kinda… unavailable right now so you'll have to do," she grinned, nudging Gajeel as he frowned down at her. "Can you make out anything else on it?"

Gajeel swallowed, his eyes still nearly crossing he was so sick as he looked down at the paper. "It's all real blurry," he grunted. "Whoever did this really didn't know how to draw." Levy nudged him again to tell him to get on with it. "Yeah, yeah I see those stupid mountains Salamander was talkin' about. I didn't see 'em until he said it though. It's just scribbles; I don't know how he read it," he grunted, shoving the paper back to Levy as he lightly heaved to himself.

She frowned but nodded. "Thanks. We'll have to ask Natsu when he wakes up. I guess he's better at reading sloppy handwriting."

Gajeel looked peeved at the notion that Natsu was better than him at something but kept his mouth shut.

"So do you think Almia is going to be over where those mountains are?" Isis asked excitedly.

Levy gave her a half-smile, slowly taking her glasses off and nodding. "I'm hoping so. I can't find anything on where Almia was before it kinda disappeared, but this book right here makes mentions of a peaceful village amongst chaos in the east which I'm thinking might just be your village," she said, tapping her finger on the book. "If it is, then I think we have a good chance of tracking down where your village was, or is, and hopefully Raven Tail along with it."

Natsu stirred at the mention of Raven Tail, even in his sleep, and I tucked a strand of hair behind his ear, smiling. That's right. Levy seemed perfectly happy keeping her hopes up and that's all we could really do at the moment. Taking it one step at a time, which maybe applied to more than just the job. I smiled down at Natsu again as he began snoring.

So there it was! I hope you enjoyed! Cuddle him Lucy, CUDDLE HIM. I think that almost nonstop when Natsu's sick. Hue hue hue.

I hope you enjoyed the little cutesy start to this chapter. XD Just kinda silly and stupid. It's gonna take a while for Natsu and Lucy's relationship to unfold. If you're looking for quicker romance/cuteness in the meantime I might direct you to the new story I put out not that long ago. It'll be fluffy and cute. XD Here I go again with the shameless self promotion. XD

Anyway, thank you guys so so much for the absolutely amazing reviews! They are so incredibly fantastic I can't even handle it! And thank you for sticking with me even though updates on my stories are kinda spaced out. I still promise I will update and finish this story, it just might take me awhile. XD

~Foxtail