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June 27th, X778

Lucy grimaced as she pushed sweat-dampened hair from her eyes. Her heart raced in her chest. Wendy soundly slept beside her, chest rising and falling in even breaths. She was grateful for it; after the usual nightmare, Lucy liked to ensure Wendy was okay.

Natsu, on the other hand, was nowhere to be found.

Immediately concerned, Lucy left Wendy to continue sleeping and began creeping through the small, abandoned camper they'd found and chosen for their shelter. It was certainly appealing when compared to the freezing rain that had broken out the day before. They'd agreed to remain there until the rain ended. Well, Natsu had protested that the rain wasn't that bad, but Wendy and Lucy had the majority vote in the situation. Wendy had taken it upon herself to calmly explain the dangers of the freezing rain, which had taken far longer than it should have with Natsu interrupting here and there. Lucy had been beyond amused with the entire conversation.

Lucy found Natsu outside, frowning at the darkness. The rain had faltered for a short time, and there was no moon – it was hidden behind the cloud cover – so Lucy wondered what he was seeing, if he saw something that she couldn't. "Natsu?" Lucy called quietly. "What's wrong?"

Natsu didn't take his gaze off the darkness. "Nothing."

Very convincing, thought Lucy wryly, rolling her eyes. She wasn't blind. She could tell something was up. She walked over, hands shoved into the pockets of her coat. It was still freezing despite the fact that it was later in the year, when it should have been nice and cozy and warm. At least there had been less snow, though Lucy thought she'd have preferred snow to rain. Gently jabbing Natsu in the side with her elbow, Lucy said, "Try again."

Natsu snorted, then ruffled his pink hair with his hands, agitated. his gaze darted to her briefly before returning to the darkness he'd been watching. "I thought I saw something," he admitted after a moment. "I couldn't see what it was from the…whatever that thing's called," he gestured to the camper, "so I came out to look, but it's gone."

Lucy warily searched that darkness. She believed him. He'd seen something. What he'd seen was a big concern. "Well, let's stick close to Wendy then and not wander off into the dark. In the morning, when the sun comes up, we'll go check it out."

"I can–"

"No, we can do it," corrected Lucy sharply. "Every time you run off on your own, I get a face full of random gods, so you're not going anywhere without me. By extension, Wendy. So we will check it out. I don't think we'll find anything though. not by then." She shifted her weight, unnerved. "It can't be a Vhalis though. Not if they're avoiding detection. I just hope it's not a bear – or another human. I don't want to run into anyone else in the middle of nowhere. not like this." Jura and Rogue might have turned out alright, but she didn't trust their run of luck.

Natsu nodded slowly, then swept his eyes over her. "Hold on, why are you even awake? Dawn's not for a while."

Lucy waved him off. She wrapped her arms around herself. "Nightmare," was all she said in a quiet voice. Natsu grunted in acknowledgement. She'd had them often enough now that he didn't question it, merely attempted to ward off screams when they were out in the open. He simply turned and nudged her back towards the camper.

"C'mon, Luce, it's gonna start raining soon," he said, unwinding his scarf as they went. He startled her by throwing it around her own throat, flashing her a quick, playful grin that she could hardly see in the dark night. Lucy touched the strange scarf, finding that it brought her comfort. It eased lingering fears from her mind and she wondered if there might be more to the diale than simply being an extension of Natsu – if maybe, it had some other magical abilities.

Amused, Lucy let him usher her inside the camper, grateful for the scarf he'd decided to loan her until she felt comfortable in her own skin again.

"I think," said Natsu, eyes locked on the rain-misted trees outside the window, "we should leave."

Mid-breakfast, Wendy swallowed her bite of food and frowned at him. The small portion they'd offered him for breakfast remained untouched – mostly because Natsu had begun to refuse to enjoy something he didn't need like they did the lower on supplies they got. Natsu knew Lucy got worried when they started to run low on food, and he didn't want to make it happen sooner than it needed to. "Why?" Wendy asked, and Lucy simply waited patiently for his response.

She still wore his scarf. Natsu noticed it as he rocked back and tore his gaze from the window. He liked when she wore his scarf. It made him feel better when he had to step away, even if he could hardly track his own diale at the moment. Not for the first time, he wondered if it might be worth attempting to return to Valhalla again, if only to reacquire even a touch of his usual power, so he could better protect the two humans that relied so heavily on him.

Lucy continued to study him. "Is this about what you saw last night?"

"Yeah." Natsu sighed heavily and raked his hand through his hair. He cast an uneasy glance out the window. "I think we should leave today, even with the rain." It had started up again, drizzling steadily.

His friends both groaned at the thought of traveling in the freezing rain, drawing a frown to his face. "I don't know what you're seeing," said Lucy, "but we really have to consider that rain, too. The last thing Wendy or I need is pneumonia or something like it. We have a good amount of antibiotics thanks to Yukino, but…"

Natsu didn't know what "pneumonia" was, but it didn't seem like an immediate threat. Not like the movement in the trees was. "I'll find you somewhere different. Somewhere better." Natsu's gaze flashed and he rocked forward, bracing himself for a fight about it. "We can't stay here."

Lucy didn't necessarily disagree, but she didn't look convinced, pleased with the shelter of the camper they'd been staying in. Wendy simply looked between them, pushing her food away and biting her lip nervously. Natsu pressed the matter. "Whatever's out there has been watching us, and I don't like it." Natsu searched Lucy's gaze pleadingly and drove his point home with his final statement. "Luce, you know I wouldn't ask you to do anything you thought was dangerous if I didn't think I had to."

Immediately, Lucy's lips twisted into an annoyed grimace that almost made Natsu laugh. "Fine," she sighed. "We'll leave after we pack." She shoveled the rest of her meal into her mouth as she began climbing to her feet, waving for Wendy to get started. Wendy willingly did so, and knowing Lucy hated wasting food, Natsu wolfed down the rest of Wendy's breakfast as well as the food Wendy had insisted he have.

Just because he didn't want to waste supplies he didn't need didn't mean Natsu wouldn't devour any leftovers that couldn't be saved.

"I'm gonna check the area around the camper really fast," said Natsu as Lucy began shoving things into her bag, murmuring to Wendy as they organized who would carry what things. Lucy paused to throw him an uncertain look. Natsu flashed her a reassuring smile. "I'll be back in a few minutes. Just the area directly around us. I won't go near where I've seen anything." He grabbed his coat out of habit and threw it on as he stepped outside the camper with a small, playful salute to Wendy. He drew the hood over his head to protect it from the drizzle.

Natsu scanned the area as he shut the door behind him. He'd not wanted to freak his friends out, but he was leaning heavily towards something other than an animal or a Vhalis watching them. The animal would have left; the Vhalis would have torn through their shelter to get to them.

No, Natsu was nearly confident it was another human watching them, evaluating what might happen if they approached.

Natsu weighed the key in his hand. He'd snagged it the night before, when Lucy had gone back to bed. Taurus's key wasn't his favorite to use – that preference remained with Scorpio's knife, whose poison burned as Natsu once had – but it was effective and would scare dangerous people away. Hopefully.

Natsu set off. He didn't bother to will the key into its other form just yet. Surprise was an important factor in strategizing how to approach a danger that could follow them, something Gajeel had once taught him in a rare moment they were on good terms. When Gajeel gave advice on fights and warfare, you listened.

He wondered where Gajeel was now – and yet again, where Levy might be. Very few gods were older than he was, but Levy was one of them. In fact, Levy was the only one. She came from a time before his own, in which fire was still a relatively new concept. She was ancient and powerful, and she would have very much liked Wendy and Lucy. She might have even tagged along to help ensure their safety, and in turn, Gajeel would have helped, simply because Gajeel did whatever Levy asked him.

As he considered their whereabouts, Natsu wandered the surrounding area, weaving through picnic bunches and pausing to peer into other abandoned vehicles. The campsite was eerie, with foggy mist accompanying the morning rain. It didn't bother Natsu. He simply searched for things that might be useful in their travels. If he saw something useful inside another camper, he broke in and snagged it.

His proudest find was a jacket that seemed to repel the rain, made of a material he'd never seen before. It was too small for Lucy, but Natsu was sure it would fit Wendy. Lucy would feel better about leaving with it. So, he began searching for another one that would fit Lucy, rifling through drawers. He even dropped to his knees to peer beneath a bed.

Something pressed to the back of his head sharply, abruptly ending his search. Natsu froze, instinctively going as still as a deer. His eyes narrowed irritably as his gut told him it wasn't anything good, nor was it Lucy or Wendy doing such a thing.

Natsu didn't know a lot of things about the world he now walked in, one he'd walked in thousands of years prior. Lucy had taught him a lot though. And one of the more important things she'd taught him about, especially in the beginnings of their travels, were the different types of danger he'd have never thought of before meeting her. One such thing had been weapons he'd never heard of, let alone used. He suspected that the thing now pressed to his head was a gun, which had been something Lucy was particularly scared of – like the weapon she said Rogue had tried to wield uselessly against the Vhalis.

"If someone comes at us with a gun, we walk away. No questions asked." Lucy had been serious when she'd said that. She'd reiterated that several times when they'd first started traveling – likely because she'd not yet believed him, and he'd appeared as mortal as she was during that time. To Lucy, at least.

Natsu exhaled softly and slowly rocked back. The gun followed his movement and a voice said sharply, "Where are your friends?"

He considered how to answer for a moment. She knew about them. She knew they were there. So there was no point in lying. The person was a woman, too – that much he could tell from her voice. She had a gun. He wasn't necessarily unarmed, but Tarus's hammer wasn't the best weapon to maneuver in this situation. So, he said cautiously, "Not here."

Natsu winced as she shoved the gun harshly against his skull. "Don't try being smart with me, or I'll shoot you, and then your friends when I find them anyways. Where are they?"

"Where I left them," Natsu muttered, grinding his teeth. "In the other thing we're staying in." He couldn't remember what Lucy had called it, nor was he keen on trying to remember what it was at the moment. He was far more interested in figuring out how to stop this woman from getting anywhere near his friends.

Not for the first time, Natsu hated that he was as close as he would ever get to being human again. He couldn't die, but if this woman decided to give it a shot, then he'd not be up and moving soon enough to help Wendy and Lucy. At the same time, he definitely couldn't do anything to prevent her from firing the gun when it was pressed right up against his head.

He exhaled softly. What would Lucy do? he wondered to himself. Lucy was much better under pressure than he was, so what would she do? What had she done when she'd had to stare down a man set on murdering her and Wendy? She'd thrown herself down a flight of stairs, he supposed, but that wouldn't work. Not when there weren't any stairs to begin with. Not with a gun involved.

The woman muttered under her breath about imbeciles – or something like that. Natsu didn't really catch what she said, nor did he really care. He slowly turned his head to peer at the woman behind him, taking her in. He was briefly startled by her scarlet hair, and he thought that it was Erza there for just a moment. A second glance told him otherwise. They really only had their hair color in common. She was older than Lucy by several years, with lines at the corners of her narrowed, intelligent eyes.

He couldn't really answer the question of what Lucy might do, he realized. Not without knowing what the woman wanted. So he asked just that: "What do you want?"

The woman took her time answering, which irked Natsu. He needed to know so he could get rid of her. So he could send her back into the world without so much as a glance in his friends' direction. The pair were likely starting to worry about why he was taking so long. "Depends on what you have," she finally said, voice nearly a purr as she smiled.

Natsu hated that she was doing all of this to steal from them rather than finding her own supplies. Reluctantly, he allowed for some honesty, "Food. Water. Extra clothes and sleeping stuff." It wasn't as if he intended to let her get anywhere near his friends, after all.

The woman looked delighted. "Let's start with food. Stand up – slowly."

Natsu did as he was told. He stood, taking his time, and something that felt distinctly human eased in his chest when he felt the gun inch away. It didn't lower, but it no longer touched him, and Natsu realized he'd been a little afraid of it. Not because it would kill him, but because of what might happen to the people he was meant to protect.

Though…it might have been funny. It would have been fun to see what kind of response he'd create when he inevitably rose from the dead in front of this woman, who'd thought to threaten a god.

Because he wasn't human. He was suddenly amused that he'd let this woman threaten him for so long. This woman could fire that gun a thousand times, and he'd still stand up, whereas one blow from it to herself, she'd never stand again.

He ignored her scowl of protest when he spun on his heel, not even bothering to reach for Taurus's key. He ignored the confusion on her face. Soot and ash and embers shot from between his lips when he puffed out a laugh as her confusion turned to uncertainty. Her face blanched white with fear when his skin cracked and charred, filling the small camper he'd been searching with the smell of burning flesh.

Natsu wasn't a god that liked to scare people. He wasn't associated with death like Jellal and Gray, or one who specialized in violence like Gajeel, but he was still a god. It was something he recalled quite proudly at the moment, even if he wasn't as powerful as he ought to be. He narrowed his eyes at the woman, tipping his head just so in a predatory fashion.

Ash flew as he rasped past lungs destroyed by smoke, "You should think before you point a weapon at someone, you know. Don't know what you're getting."

The woman flew back a few steps, hand shaking violently as she leveled her gun at him. "What the fuck are you?" she whispered, panicked, and Natsu huffed a laugh under his breath. He'd not lay a finger on her – unless he was forced to, of course. Lucy didn't like violence, and he didn't want to hurt anyone if it wasn't necessary. As long as this stranger went on her merry way without so much as a glance at the woman Natsu had marked as one of his Favored, she could continue on as she had until this point.

But he'd scare the hell out of her. If only to ensure she thought twice about attacking strangers again.

"Doesn't matter what I am." Natsu bared his teeth at her in a grin. "Get lost." When the woman didn't move, frozen in fear, he took a threatening step towards her, expecting her to run.

Instead, the woman pulled the trigger.

A crack split the air. It was loud enough to make them jump. The final can of food Lucy had been repacking tumbled from her fingers. She instinctively ducked down and dragged Wendy with her, both falling silent. After a handful of minutes in which nothing happened, they exchanged nervous looks. "That…that was a gun, wasn't it?" whispered Wendy.

"Yeah." Lucy exhaled softly, nervous. Where was Natsu? Why did he always disappear when–

Natsu.

Lucy's face paled. He'd gone out to ensure the area was safe for them. She couldn't leave Wendy behind to go and track him down, nor could she take Wendy with her. It wasn't safe. She couldn't just leave him to whoever was out there either. Her fingers slowly slipped into her pocket, gripping the ring of keys she held for reassurance. She thought they might have offered some warmth to comfort her with.

Lucy considered what they should do, but came up empty-handed. "Wendy," she whispered uncertainly, "what do you think we should–"

The camper door suddenly ripped open and they both recoiled away from it. Lucy's heart skipped a beat as she tightened her fingers around the keys until they ached, preparing to repeat her decisions in Jerome's house of horrors for Wendy's sake.

There was no need though. Natsu peered at them with amusement in his eyes as he saw the way Lucy and Wendy had ducked down. A raincoat had been tucked under his arm. Relief flooded Lucy as she shot to her feet, instinctively sweeping a look over him, ensuring there was no sign of damage. "What are you doing?" he asked as her attention lingered on him.

"There was a gunshot," said Wendy nervously.

Natsu wrinkled his nose. "Was there?" he replied too casually, and Lucy knew it wasn't just a gunshot that they'd heard. He'd been involved, and he didn't want either of them to know. "Look what I found, Wendy," he added, showing her the raincoat. Water dripped from him, and when he shook his head to shake some of it off, it flew at them. Lucy hissed in protest.

Trusting Natsu, Wendy was immediately distracted, darting forward to investigate the jacket though she did frown up at him for a moment. "I know what you're doing," she told him, though it didn't stop her from letting Natsu help her slip the jacket on to see if it would fit.

Lucy hung back. She couldn't be so easily distracted. "Natsu," she said uneasily. "Are we still leaving today?"

"No." Natsu's attention remained entirely on Wendy. He didn't so much as look in Lucy's direction. "The person who was watching us left. They won't bother us again."

Lucy wanted to ask what that meant. She didn't dare, instead asking, "Who were they?"

"Some lady." Natsu beamed, pleased when Wendy thoughtfully looked down at herself, nodding to show that the raincoat fit her, just as he'd thought it would. He ruffled Wendy's hair affectionately. "We can wait until the rain stops now. I'm going to go back out and see if I can find another one for you though, Luce." Only then did he shoot her a quick smile. He whipped around and ducked back outside into the rain without another word, shouting over his shoulder, "I'll be back!"

Speechless, Lucy stared after him.

She'd not missed the golden ichor staining the collar of his coat.

Natsu being more godly than usual! ;) I love the random little moments. ANYHOW! Last small adventure chapter before we leap into the next big section! This next one is one I wrote ages ago and have reworked into this version of SF, and I'm SUPER excited for it.

Thanks to reviewers (Meow Orbit, hopelesskar, marn-marn, TheAngelicPyro, InfiniteMiste, merdalertwarning, BurstingDragons, MissChuChuuu, and Guest#1!) as well as those who favorited and followed!