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September 15th, X778

Natsu hadn't moved when the door to the cabin creaked open, signaling the return of Wendy and the others. He heard all movement stop, but ignored it. Instead, he kept his attention solely on what he was doing, even as Lucy dozed in his lap. She'd curled against his chest, head tucked beneath his chin and face softened by somewhat restless sleep. She didn't stir when he carefully set aside the repacked bag, however, nor when he reached for another.

Softly, Wendy said, "She woke up?"

"For a bit." Natsu slid a wary look over his shoulder at her. Wendy didn't seem to care or notice the change that had taken place in the cabin while they'd been away. She seemed more annoyed that she'd not been there than anything else. Natsu was a little glad she'd not been; he couldn't say he'd be overly interested to have an audience when Lucy had kissed the daylights out of him. "Her arms were hurting."

"They'll hurt for a while," Wendy replied, making her way over. She greeted Charle with a gentle pat to the white feline's head. Charle purred, blinking happily at Wendy in turn. "I couldn't find what I was looking for in the other cabins, but there might be something in that town that was closeby, Natsu. I'd bet my snacks there's a small clinic at least, where I could find some more medical supplies. Better than what I have now."

"And a bunch of Vhalis, too, Wendy," Natsu pointed out.

Wendy's gaze rested on Lucy's sleeping face. "Maybe. But we could get some better meds, too. I really, really don't like the chance of infection in injuries like that, Natsu."

He didn't really know what Wendy meant by that, but if she thought it was important… "When Luce feels a little better, we'll go check it out. I don't want to throw her into a Vhalis-infested town when she's still bleeding through her bandages."

"She's what?" Wendy squawked at the realization, because Lucy's bandages had turned a light shade of pink while she was away. "Wake her up! I want to change them!" She bolted for her first-aid kit, horrified that she'd not noticed sooner, and it drew a grin from Natsu as he finally dared to look at his fellow gods, still hovering in the doorway.

Where Wendy hadn't noticed anything different, he was confident they did. Gods were different from humans, after all. Promises and vows weren't made politely. When a god spoke a vow, they meant to keep it. Gajeel studied him with a sharp, conflicted expression, lips pursed in an unhappy look; Levy seemed a little alarmed. She didn't say anything. Neither of them did. She simply told Natsu quietly, "We didn't see any signs of danger while we were out. No humans. No lost souls. Nothing."

He shot her a quick, grateful look as Wendy sighed, "It's too bad we're so far from the ocean. Maybe we could have figured out how to ask Juvia or Gray to help us get back to Hyacinth. Yukino has a lot of the things we need, and it'd be a safe place to recover in." She frowned as she put her hands on her hips, considering that.

Natsu made a face. He wasn't a fan of Gray or Hyacinth. He'd have put up with Gray if it meant getting Lucy somewhere safe – even if it meant going somewhere none of them were all that excited about potentially returning to at some point. Luckily, and unluckily, he supposed, Hyacinth was much too far away to be truly considered as a place to go. He frowned at the thought of just how long it had taken them to get to where they were now.

A brief silence fell, peaceful and contemplative. Levy broke it after a hesitant moment. "Gajeel and I…we were thinking of leaving, but perhaps we could go investigate that town before we do. We stand a better chance than the three of you do if there's truly lost souls out intending to cause harm." Levy grimaced delicately. "It's the least I can do after what happened."

When Natsu only furrowed his brow, considering it, Wendy pointed out, "That would give us a few days to rest, Natsu."

Natsu looked down at the woman still sleeping semi-soundly in his lap. Her head had shifted to his shoulder. Her face was still pale, and the bruises beneath her eyes were darker than they usually were. "Yeah," he murmured. "That sounds like a good idea. Wendy and I'll stay here. Keep an eye on everything. Think you could show us a few runes before you go, Levy?"

"Of course!" Levy smiled wildly then, a rare spark of true joy on her face at the thought of sharing her endless well of knowledge with them. Wendy was immediately distracted from her worries about Lucy by the idea of learning something so useful and interesting. She eagerly spun to face Levy, and for a heartbeat, Levy studied her with a calculating sweep of her eyes – as if she was considering Wendy and her interest in what Levy favored over even her own work as the goddess of springtime.

But the dismissive flick of her eyes told Natsu that Levy wouldn't claim Wendy as one of her Favored, which was likely for the better. Though Grandeeney wasn't a god like they were, she was still quite capable of claiming her daughter as something similar to the gods' Favored. The last thing they needed was for Levy to unintentionally upset the wind spirit.

As Levy began telling Wendy about some of the runes, considering which ones she ought to teach them for safety before they left, Natsu decided he ought to join them. He hefted himself to his feet with caution, dragging Lucy with him. She stirred at last, mumbling something, and he paused to wait until she settled again before tucking her safely and comfortably into the bed. Natsu tossed the still rumpled blanket from earlier over her, and Lucy nestled right into it. Natsu couldn't help the way his lips curved into a tiny smile at the sight.

Natsu was very aware of Gajeel's heavy stare as he watched him. He knew it meant Gajeel would say something later, but for now…Natsu didn't care – nor did he think he'd care later when Gajeel undoubtedly commented on the way his interactions with Lucy had changed. Well, maybe he'd care just a little bit. Mostly because Gajeel would be an ass about it.

He was content with his decision and the vow he'd made. If Mavis was going to kick them out of Valhalla without warning or explaining what they'd done to deserve it, then why bother following her laws? Perhaps she'd made Natsu into what he was now, but he was still a god. A powerless god at the moment, but a god nonetheless.

And he'd do as he wished until Mavis apologized.

The sting of pain in her arms jostled Lucy awake, and her first instinct was, unfortunately, to fight back against whatever was the source. A soft yelp filled the air when she blearily caught something soft with her knuckles, drawing her further into awareness. "Wendy!" she realized a moment too late, rocking upright as the teenager blinked at her in alarm and ruefully rubbed her cheek, where Lucy had struck her. Apologies spilled from Lucy's lips, but Wendy only smiled at her.

"I'm okay," promised Wendy, rubbing the red, sore mark away from her cheek. "I should have tried to wake you up first. I just wanted to check on your arms."

"I told you to wake her up." Natsu's voice met Lucy's ears, filled with humor. When Lucy looked over, propped on her elbows even as her arms screamed their protest, he was grinning at them from where he'd casually been skimming the pages of a book they'd found in another cabin. He flipped the page, gaze returning to his book as he added, "Lucy gets violent when she wakes up sometimes."

Grumbling threats at Natsu, Lucy sat up properly and stretched her arms out for Wendy. "You can, if you want. Check on them, I mean. I'm awake now. I promise I won't react like that again. I really am sorry, Wendy." She hadn't meant to strike Wendy.

Wendy went right to work, waving off the apologies before peeling bloodied bandages from her arms. It hurt more in some places than others, but Lucy kept her pain to herself. Unlike the last time Wendy had done it, Lucy ducked her head to watch, faltering when she saw the sigils carved into her flesh. They were gruesome. Many should have gotten stitches, had the world been different than what it now was. Six runes resided on each arm, and she recalled somewhere in the back of her mind that someone had said they meant something. Lucy didn't recall what though.

She didn't realize Natsu had come to join them until the bed dipped beside her. He'd settled there, peering at her arms closely. Something akin to rage flashed over his face. "Wendy–"

"I think," said Wendy slowly, eyes darting from rune to rune, "they look worse than they are. Except for this one; this is the one I'm most worried about." She gently indicated a particular rune on Lucy's left wrist. "The most important thing right now is that they didn't get an artery or something like that. I don't know how, but they didn't. It's actually kind of a miracle – no offense, Lucy, but–"

"I shouldn't be here?" suggested Lucy wryly. Natsu stiffened angrily at the idea. "Believe me, we're all as surprised as you that I am." She let loose a soft breath and elbowed Natsu gently with her free arm. "Relax, Natsu."

He scowled lightly at her before turning a piercing look back onto Wendy. "You can fix it though, right?" When she faltered, he said sharply, "Right?"

"I can try." Wendy bit her lip, guilt splintering across her expression. "Like I said, it's not the blood loss that I think will be a problem. I mean, Lucy lost a lot, but if she hasn't bled out yet, I think she'll be okay. But look at this." She gestured to the particularly nasty injury, anxious. "I know I'm not a doctor or anything, but even I know how bad this is. If Levy and Gajeel can't find what we need, we need to find another hospital to search for supplies in. My kits were already low before this. I'm going to be running on empty soon."

The distress was clearly building in Wendy's voice the more she spoke, and when Natsu glanced at Lucy for her opinion, Lucy only sighed. She wasn't surprised by Wendy's concerns. In fact, she shared them. She'd known her arms were bad, but she'd not thought about how low they might be getting on first-aid supplies after trapezing through the mountains for so long. It could have been way worse though; at least Lucy hadn't died choking on her own blood.

A thought occurred to her as Wendy began delicately dabbing some ointment on a few of the runes, making Lucy hiss quietly in pain. "Where are Gajeel and Levy?"

Wendy gentled her touch a little more. "They went to the town we saw on the map. Like I said, they're going to see if they can find some of the supplies I'm low on. I gave Levy a list, and she mentioned maybe checking out the…the place we ended up in for some stuff, too, if it wasn't too dangerous. The people that had her diale had a lot of medical supplies stashed away, she said."

Lucy nodded slowly. Finding those supplies they were low on was a necessity. A clinic or hospital would definitely have some of the things they ought to have – and maybe even something strong to help her sleep, which would have been nice. Lucy didn't feel as if she'd be sleeping well anytime soon between her nightmares and the aching of her arms.

"Well, for the time being, there's not much else we can do than to give everything time," said Lucy with another sigh. She patted Natsu on the arm reassuringly, keeping her gaze averted. She didn't want to look at the runes. It brought back so much fear and darker emotions when she looked at them. Admittedly, Lucy was pleased Levy had left, even if for only a few days. Lucy couldn't bear the idea of looking at her just yet, unable to forget the feeling of her squeezing her shoulder as she braced that knife against her throat–

"What are we going to do now?" Lucy asked, cutting off her own thoughts as Wendy put her things aside and climbed onto the bed to sit with her friends. Charle jumped up to curl in her lap, purring loudly, as the three sat shoulder-to-shoulder, with Natsu in the middle. "I mean," continued Lucy with a sigh when Natsu glanced at her, "we haven't found anything to fix Valhalla, and I don't think we're going to at this point. Not unless something is thrown in our faces. And we found Levy like you wanted, Natsu."

He cringed. Lucy knew he'd not wanted to find her like they had. He hesitated, and then said, "Levy…she put some runes down around the area, so we'd be safer while she was away. She even knows a couple to help keep the Vhalis away. Wendy learned more than I did about them, but maybe she can teach us some more and we can make our own safe zone."

Wendy perked up. "You're going to stay with us, Natsu? Even with all the Valhalla stuff?"

Lucy had to hide the smile that she felt creeping to life when Natsu dramatically sighed, ruffling Wendy's hair. "Someone's gotta make sure you two stay out of trouble. If I turn my back for two seconds, something else happens. 'Course I'm staying with you. Besides, it's not like we've found anything to help with Valhalla. What's going to change if we haven't found anything at this point?"

Wendy's excitement faded a little, though she was still clearly pleased with Natsu's decision to stick around. "You really think we can't fix things? That we can't help the Vhalis and the people they go after?"

Natsu winced. That was still a sore spot to discuss. For all of his vows and decisions, Lucy knew it would bother him indefinitely if things weren't fixed to stop the Vhalis' suffering. At this point, however, none of them had been much help in fixing the situation, so Lucy understood why he spoke as he did. Lucy wasn't sure what they could do if they'd not found anything while searching for as long as they had been. "If we come across something," Natsu decided, "we could try, but Wendy…Levy was the only one I could think of. I really don't know what to do now. If Mavis won't let us go back after helping Levy, there's probably nothing I can do about it."

"Maybe Levy can look into it," suggested Lucy.

"Levy knows a lot more than the rest of us do about a lot of things. If anyone can figure something out, it's her. In the meantime…I'll stay with the two of you." Natsu's eyes flashed, even as he playfully elbowed a giggling Wendy. Lucy's cheeks warmed ever so slightly when his fingers wound with hers, squeezing tightly. There was no doubt that wherever Lucy was, Natsu would be. It was something Lucy was grateful for after all of her worrying about one day being alone again.

Quietly, Lucy said, "I'm sorry that we didn't find anything about Valhalla, Natsu." He'd been so incredibly excited about the prospect that the place in the mountains where it never snowed – and then Levy, when they'd realized who waited for them there – might tell him more about what had happened to his home.

Natsu shrugged, jostling them both. "It is what it is," he muttered. He didn't sound too upset about it all. "Besides, if we'd found something, I'd have to go back, right? And I don't want to go back anymore."

Wendy glanced sharply at him. "You don't?" He'd not explicitly stated as such around her just yet, not like he had around Lucy when she'd finally managed to drag herself away from kissing the breath out of him. Her cheeks heated at the thought. She wouldn't mind doing that again.

Natsu's fingers tightened around Lucy's again. "I don't want the lost souls to suffer, but I won't put Lucy in danger again. Not…not like that. I don't want you in danger either, Wendy. I won't risk my friends for something that's a 'maybe.' Not anymore."

Wendy nodded thoughtfully, and they fell into a peaceful silence for a short while, each lost in their own thoughts. Eventually, Wendy broke it by hopping to her feet, bouncing with energy. "Can Charle and I go check out one or two of the other cabins? I didn't take my time to check for more than medical supplies when I went with Levy and Gajeel. Do you think it'd be safe? You said Levy put runes everywhere, right?"

"Yeah, should be safe enough." Natsu cracked a wide yawn, more for show than anything else. It wasn't as if he was actually tired. He nudged Lucy with his shoulder as Wendy beamed and bolted from the cabin in a frenzy of barely contained energy, excited to have something to do now that Lucy was up and talking. "Want me to go with her or stay here?"

Fondly, Lucy nudged him back. She ignored the pain that shot up her arm. "Go with her, please. Levy's runes are good, I guess, but…"

"On it." Natsu hurtled from the bed like Wendy had. He paused beside it, then unwound the scarf he wore. Lucy was unsurprised when he tossed it at her. "I'll check back soon," he told her sincerely, watching intently as she pointedly threw the scarf around her own neck. She squeezed the end of it in her fist. The diale was comforting. Even if it had done nothing to help her before, she knew what he meant whenever he gave it to her.

Lucy flashed him a tired smile. "I'll take a look at our maps while you're out. While these cabins aren't terrible, I don't think this is the best place to set up a semi-permanent camp for a while. We'll want somewhere with a better water source and a little further away from a bunch of potential Vhalis, you know?"

Natsu's eyes lit with excitement at the prospect of finding somewhere else, somewhere much better than their current location. He hesitated, and then suggested, "Maybe, see if you think there's somewhere near Mount Hakobe we could check out." When Lucy blinked, caught off guard, Natsu's lips curved into a broad grin. "That's where Igneel rests. He doesn't wake up much, but I'd like to see him at least. I couldn't see him a lot when I was in Valhalla."

Lucy didn't question what he meant by "resting" and what happened when the volcanic spirit "woke up." She wasn't sure she wanted to know. She simply shrugged, trusting Natsu to not put them in further danger. "Sure. Even if we don't stay, we can visit."

Natsu bounced on the balls of his feet excitedly. "I think he'll like you, Luce."

"I hope so. I think I'll like him, too." Lucy shooed him out, worried for Wendy. Natsu went willingly, laughing, and Lucy watched him go with a fond smile, gaze warm with affection. Igneel had to be a good spirit, one who meant well. Natsu wouldn't have insisted on it otherwise. Even so…

Lucy frowned at the prospect of traveling again. From what she recalled, Mount Hakobe was deep in the mountains. But if she was right, Natsu might know the way through them if she could get him close enough – at least, she hoped he'd know them a little. Maybe there were no longer ancient civilizations in the mountains surrounding it, but there would surely be remnants, even now.

She just hoped the weather wouldn't kill them in the process.

Some cute stuff and plans to visit Igneel! Question is: will they make it to Igneel now?

3idiotsrule, regarding the language Natsu speaks...something like Latin, I imagine. ;)

Thank you all for your patience! I managed to pump out two and a half chapters with that break I took from updating, so we should be back to normal for at least a small while. :) On another note, that may change in the future, as apparently I have to be tested for narcolepsy. Did not see that coming.

All of the reviews/responses to the kiss made my fucking year, by the way. It's been a while since I got so many, and it really made me happy, so thank you all so much.

Thanks to reviewers (3825Doll, xennia-x, InsaneLethologica, Meow Orbit, MissChuchuuu, nerdalertwarning, InWonder64nd, takeagamble27, Rachel Maddison, Guest #1, marn-marn, Lycamall, 123kjfb, fjsmothie, hopelesskar, oh man, TaraPasty, dooryy, MPrime, Brooke0315, Guest #2, XxStar'sDustxX, Sir Sasquatch, 3idiotsrule, BeccaAlbarn188, & Sele de la Luna!), as well as those who favorited and followed!