Hello lovely people! Here is your new update! We genuinely hope you enjoy this one! We're getting close to the end of Act 1 of this fic!

10

Gulliver's Travels

"They have a notion, that when people are met together, a short silence does much improve conversation: this I found to be true; for during those little intermissions of talk, new ideas would arise in their minds, which very much enlivened the discourse."
― Johnathan Swift, Gulliver's Travels

Early morning dawned over the treeline, a drop of morning dew falling to land directly on Natsu's nose. It woke him up from his light doze, causing him to squint up at the early sun. This part of his territory was still thick with trees and not nearly as hot as he tended to like it, but that wasn't what had him tense.

It was sleeping out in the open. Specifically in his human form.

He hadn't been in his human form for so long, he was unfamiliar with how his own body even worked in such a state. The limits of his magic and strength were different, and without his armored hind, he was nervous about sleeping out in the open. Even if he was in his own territory.

He'd had problems with various would-be assassins attacking him in his sleep, in the heart of his own territory, before. Not that Natsu gave them a second chance to try again, but he wasn't keen on repeat performances, and was perhaps somewhat understandably paranoid.

He glanced over at the woman who was the reason he had barely slept at all the past couple of nights. It was by her will that he remained in this vulnerable form. As a dragon, he was almost invincible. But right now? Right now he could not only be hurt, but killed.

He recognized it was primarily Hades' fault. And he would certainly die for his part in forcing him into this shape.

This girl however…

She both enraged and fascinated him in ways he could barely understand. He should hate her, and part of him did for the control she had over him, even if it was unknowing. And yet whenever he was near her she insisted on confusing him with her stubborn morals, her hilarious temper, and her strange acts of kindness. It made him wary, but even though every instinct told him he should stay as far away as the bond allowed, he couldn't resist coming back for more.

He crept over to where she was sound asleep, bending forward by just a hair to peer down at her face.

She seemed harmless enough. Not at all like someone who would be plotting against him. But Natsu had learned by now that most people had far more sinister plans in mind than anything even he could create. They were tools, nothing more. And being a monster meant he could do whatever he wanted.

That was good enough for him.

Still, he guessed at least she was kind of nice to look at. Even if all she did was yell and complain and confuse him.

Lucy shifted a bit in her sleep, to his amusement, inelegantly smashing her face against a wadded up part of the sleeping bag that was serving as her pillow, but also shifting herself directly into the path of a sunbeam.

Mumbling irritably she shifted again, trying to escape it, but the half awareness brought about the awareness that it was getting uncomfortably hot in her sleeping bag.

Natsu watched with amusement as she shifted and groaned, clearly not wanting to wake up. She was funny. If nothing else, he had to give her that. She was freaking hilarious in moments like this, and he couldn't help being entertained by her every reaction. Especially when she squealed and screamed like a little girl. It made him want to torment her more so she would do it again.

This wasn't quite at that level, but it was amusing enough watching her battle with the sunbeam and the rising temperature, something he was helpfully pushing along as much as he could without setting fire to anything she would yell at him for later.

He could actually see the moment she threw her hands up and ripped back the sleeping bag to sit up, desperate for a cooler breath of air.

She blinked blearily around, no doubt wanting to know where he was, and he hastily put out the fire he'd been bathing himself in, and grinned wickedly at her, "Morning Lucy!" He chirped, happily feeding her paranoia.

"Oh god..." Lucy groaned as she tried to orient herself, "It's too early for you."

"It's never too early for me." Natsu smirked at her, the gloom of his mood fading in the face of her grumpy face. Boy he really did love it when she gave him that look.

He flashed upright to his feet, blinking away his own sleep as he moved quickly into an open area, stretching out to feel the sun on his face. Maybe it was hitting it too on the nose, but sometimes he just loved to lay on a rock under the sun for hours. Something he didn't think he would be able to do this time.

Still, it was worth sacrificing the time if it meant seeing Lucy get all worked up in a tizzy. Sometimes he enjoyed listening to her whining, and sometimes it just irritated him. Right now he was amused.

"Come on, you ready to get out of here or you wanna roll over and take another nap?" He asked, a wicked smirk drawing across his lips as he watched her sleep mussed self swaying from where she was seated.

"What's got you in such a good mood?" Lucy asked, suspicion coloring her tone, and Natsu's smirk widened.

It was probably a good thing she was so wary of him. It at least meant she had some kind of survival instincts. Which was hilarious considering how often she got right back into his face about his many behavioral problems. The mortal had some guts, he had to give her that much.

He stopped his usual plan of torment, though, when he picked up the sound of voices nearby.

A familiar scent, masked with the smells of a magic-mobile caught his attention, and the smile fell from his face. An uneasy twist in his gut made his skin crawl.

"We've got company," He hissed, eyes narrowed in displeasure, especially since this particular kind of company would make Lucy very happy.

It was HER.

Lucy looked up at that with a slight frown, wary of company in the middle of nowhere like this, "What kind of company?" She asked standing up, absently smoothing out her clothes and hair as best she could.

Natsu didn't answer except to growl, and a moment later it didn't matter anyway as the sound of a motor running and voices shouting at each other was audible even to her ears.

"Erza! You're driving this thing too fast!"

Lucy's jaw dropped in shock. Had she heard that right?

"We have to find the celestial wizard Jura told us about!" A commanding female voice responded, and Lucy's shock grew.

Was Fairy Tail...looking for her?

The thought warmed her heart in a way little else had done since she'd arrived in this crazy world, and she blessed Jura for apparently calling ahead somehow.

"Yeah, but we're not gonna do that if you get us killed driving like a maniac!" The first voice, a man, shouted back.

"My driving is fine Gray!" The second voice, which she assumed was Erza, snapped back, but a second later she was screaming in fright as a strange looking car literally lunged at them out of the underbrush, and she dove for cover.

"Lookout!" The man shouted, his own eyes going wide at the sight of her as the redhead fought for control of the car thing and tires squealed as she managed to pull it to a stop just short of crashing it into a large tree.

"Okay...that was terrifying." Lucy whimpered shakily.

Seriously, was it some rule of this world that she wasn't allowed to wake up in the morning without having a heart attack of some kind?

Yesterday it was fish to the face. Today it was nearly get killed via weird magic car.

"I told you." Gray groaned from where he was half sprawled in the car and half smushed against the tree.

"Apologies," Erza replied from where she was sprawled over the steering wheel. She somehow managed to straighten herself and tuck her hair from her face, a curtain of red bangs hanging in front of her eyes.

She stepped out from the car, and Lucy was stunned into silence at the sight of this imposing woman. The words on the pages of her book did nothing to truly describe the wave of power and authority this woman gave off. It was incredible. And Gray was no different once he extracted himself.

She had never seen words leap off the page as they had in that moment as she saw both Erza and Gray walking towards her. These were some of the heroes of her book brought to life. Mages of Fairy Tail. The sight was both awe inspiring and utterly indescribable.

Erza turned a kind smile towards her.

"You must be the Lucy Jura told us all about," She said calmly. Her hand drifted towards the sword at her side, but her gaze slid around her surroundings, "He also warned us of your travelling companion, Natsu. Where might he be?"

"Is this is him?" Gray observed a pair of tan legs kicking out from a bush. Natsu had clearly not reacted as quickly as Lucy had in response to the magical car, and as a result had ended up headfirst into the nearest shrub.

Gray crouched down and reached into the leaves, his hand hooking around the fabric of Natsu's vest and yanking backwards.

"Huh. So this is what ol' flamebrain really looks like, huh?" Gray observed, peering at the dragon's face as if he was looking at it for the first time.

And Lucy realized in surprise, it probably was the first time.

"Not quite what I expected." Erza mused as she too got a closer look at the dragon's human form, "But no matter." She turned her attention back to Lucy, "I'm relieved to find you unhurt. Jura warned us you were on your way, but when we heard about the train wreck we feared the worst."

Lucy smiled back at Erza, something in her unknotting at the genuine concern she could see on the other woman's face. She'd been right to want to go to these people.

"Thanks." She replied, "Natsu and I got out of there pretty quick. I was a little worried about more guys showing up, or having to explain things that I really can't to the authorities."

A wry smile twisted Erza's lips, "Hm, I believe I understand where you're coming from there. Though I'd like to hear more about-"

She was cut off as Gray went flying between them to slam against a tree, "You wanna say that again droopy drawers?!" Natsu roared, and Gray's face twisted in anger, "That's it! You're going down you overgrown lizard!"

"Who're you calling a lizard!" Natsu screamed, seemingly more interested in getting into Gray's face than punching it. Which made no sense to Lucy, but little Natsu did actually made sense.

"Uh guys..." She tried to interrupt, but was ignored as the pair snarled and bickered before knocking each other back and powering up their magic, "Guys seriously!"

That had no effect either, and Lucy began to despair of so much as combing her hair and getting a decent breakfast without a massive battle.

Someone must have heard Lucy's prayers though, because a moment later, Erza had risen to grab a fistful of pink and black hair. With a mighty swing, she cracked the two males skulls together. Her form was perfect.

"Lucy said that is enough." she growled, the very terrifying image of a demoness. Even Lucy took an instinctive step back.

Where had the kind, concerned, Erza gone? She had been replaced by some sort of titan of fury.

Lucy was awed, but a trifle sympathetic, when she saw Gray and Natsu recoil backwards. Even the latter, who seemed to fear nothing, looked wary over incurring her wrath a second time.

"Now," Her brown eyes glinted with a steely light. It made Lucy extremely grateful she was not the focus of her ire. In fact, Lucy wanted to fall down before this terrifying woman's feet in gratitude alone for saving her from the insanity which had been the past couple of days.

Although she had a sinking suspicion this woman had the possibility of adding to the madness if Lucy didn't keep an eye on her.

"Jura has made it clear you are not from our world Lucy, and yet you have managed to gain Celestial powers strong enough to open gates," Erza slid her visible eye to Lucy, her hands resting at her waist. She looked impressed, "You must be a very powerful mage to have managed such a complicated task."

"Really?" Lucy asked, her eyes sliding from Erza to Gray. The latter nodded, his body seeming to relax the moment Erza's boiling gaze was no longer on it.

"Yeah," He lifted a hand to gesture through the air, "It's not easy popping open a hole to another world. Can you imagine if just anyone could do it? The place would be chaos."

He had a point when he said it like that.

"I'm not entirely convinced this place isn't already chaos," Lucy muttered under her breath.

"Hm?" Erza asked, "Oh nothing!" Lucy replied a tad nervously, ignoring Gray's slight smirk, "So what now?"

"Now we get you two back to the guild." Gray replied, "Gramps wants to have a talk with you both." He eyed her up and down, "Though maybe a stop by the girl's dorm to freshen up, and some breakfast might be in order first."

Lucy flushed self-consciously, "Sorry." She mumbled in embarrassment, "I just got up."

"That's perfectly fine." Erza told her gently, her warm concern back now that Natsu and Gray were behaving themselves, "I'm sure the Master won't mind a slight delay for you to get cleaned up, and Gray can have Mira whip up something for you to eat."

Lucy nodded gratefully, and let herself be herded into the car. She was a little startled to discover that Natsu was extremely reluctant to get in. It was like the train all over again. Only more pronounced.

She had no idea why.

Natsu did not want to get into that rattling, vomit inducing, death trap one bit. Not only was it unlikely he'd be able to hide his motion sickness thanks to the bouncing and uneven terrain, he was going to be sick in front of the popsicle.

That was just horrifying, and he absolutely did not want to give him any more fuel than he already had.

Natsu swallowed around a tight throat as he watched all the humans file into the car. Lucy was giving him a curious look, completely confused over why he was hesitating.

There was no way he could just roll over onto his side this time and pretend to be asleep. No. This time he was going to suffer a good, long time.

He desperately wanted to ask if he could just walk, but unfortunately his pride got the better of him. Not that it would matter. Natsu didn't think he could keep up with a car on foot anyway. He'd get dragged screaming behind Lucy thanks to the bond anyway.

The last thing he needed was a bad road rash thanks to all the trees he hit from here all the way to Magnolia.

So he sucked it up and stepped into the metal carriage, going pale under his tan. It was another one of these horrible iron boxes. Why couldn't they ever just leave him be?

Why did mortals insist on shoving themselves into cans and hurtling themselves uncontrollably through space?

Didn't they have any self preservation instincts? It seemed highly unlikely thanks to their long track record of getting into terrible fights with opponents easily capable of crushing them. Like dragons.

Granted, had they known a dragon's worst enemy was a form of transportation, the battle field was far more level than the humans realized.

"You look pale." Lucy noted in concern, "Are you alright?"

Seriously, he looked absolutely miserable. Like he was being taken to his execution or something. And...was he sweating?

It seemed impossible, but as Erza started up the car it became more pronounced. As did the green tinge to his skin. The moment they took off though, bouncing and rattling over roots and who knew what else, she realized exactly what she was seeing.

He grabbed his stomach with a pained whimper, and leaned over like he was contemplating throwing up all over their feet.

"Natsu...are you motion sick?" She asked incredulously, hardly able to believe what she was seeing. The ferocious, terrifying, demon dragon king was being brought low by a car?

He shot her a baleful look that quickly lost it's effectiveness as his cheeks puffed out, "I hate you." He whined pathetically, and clawed feebly at the window.

He would rather be dragged than deal with this.

He waited for the teasing to start. The mockery of how pathetic it was he was taken out by transportation. The ice prick especially wouldn't be able to resist that.

He didn't notice Lucy motioning Gray to silence as she shifted seats and wrapped the sleeping bag around his shoulders, rubbing her hand over his back soothingly in the process.

She didn't much like him, and she definitely didn't trust him, but she couldn't resist trying to help out when he was so obviously sick.

Even if he bit her for it later.

She ignored the violent flinch from Natsu when she touched him, or the way his dark eyes skittered over to her, as if expecting a blow. She bit her tongue to prevent herself from saying anything to soothe him since Lucy was certain it more than likely wouldn't be received well.

Natsu looked miserable while Gray was clearly put out by having his chance to mock his enemy's misery squandered. Erza stared straight ahead, above all of it. But her eyes were locked on Lucy in the rear view mirror.

Rubbing at the knots of tension in his back, Lucy worked on kneading them loose enough for him to relax. Natsu was giving her a look of disbelief, almost as if she had sprouted wings.

"What're you-" Natsu asked, but snapped his mouth shut when Erza hit a rather large bump in the road. It seemed he thought better of opening it again while he was in the confines of the carriage.

Lucy got the picture from his feeble question though. The intent behind it was clear enough.

"Hush Natsu, you're not feeling well. Let me do this for you, I promise you can go right back to hating me as soon as we get to Magnolia," Lucy sighed, scratching a soft path on the back of his neck to catch his attention.

He gave her a hazy look, flushed and pale at the same time. It was something only capable of being achieved by those who were sick.

Much to her surprise though, Natsu gave her a weak nod, slumping his head back against the window and closing his eyes.

A pang of sympathy ran through her at the sight. He must have really been feeling terrible if he rolled over that easily and listened to her.

PHEW! Man this was a fun one! But don't worry guys, we aren't even close to done yet! Ten chapters in, and Fairy Tail finally makes their appearance! (This is still just TWO DAYS into the story. Like... JFC these past days have been pretty hard on poor Lucy)

SPECIAL THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO REVIEWED! - the-clumsy-one (possessive? Ha, maybe) -TheReelIgneel - Mezatron - AnonymousStalkerFriend (omg, go sleep) - Guest - - Snavej - Ghost King's Queen (You ask a lot of very good questions) - shvartzit (awww, it's okay. C'mere my child, I will give you a new chapter soon) - Wonderwomanbatmanfan (I dunno, do you think he got a little jelly there? wink, wink) - HalfBlackWolfDemon - musicality82695 - Weepingwillowfairy - Guest - fanficlove2014 - SakuraPetal91 (Yes, Natsu is a bit of a mystery, isn't he?) - Twishadowhunter - Avengerika - Pixelbow (Dude your screen name is on point) - kirby42280 - Princessatj - eternalstarrlight (The best part about this is getting to enjoy their growing comfort with one another. That's the stuff. Ye) - Pr0fess0rPanda (ohoho, does it remind you of What's a Witch? ahahaha... I should probably update that) - xxsomthngvague - oreobark - Etrinity - Poxxy (Look who snuck in at the last second! And you are right, Lucy does have certain reactions to the strangeness around her)

THANK YOU AGAIN TO EVERYONE WHO REVIEWED! We really do appreciate everything you do for us!