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Nexus HWR 22.1 I Can Be Your Family:

Day 1

"Our forces north of Pyraxas are facing serious pushback in their attempts to cash in on the instability of the Fire Nation. They have prevented Father from making any headway into old Fire Nation territory, but they have been unable to gain any ground on him either. The armies of the Homunculi are keeping our Elite Squads tied up, preventing them from fighting the former Lords of Sozin who have allied together and built up strength since Sozin's death."

"If Father was taken out of the picture then, you would be able to redeploy forces around the unstable areas of the former Fire Lord? Which could keep a new High Lord from emerging and consolidating control over the other Lords?" A short boy in a pink hat floating in front of a few Resistance Commanders questioned back.

Hiei nodded his head then turned to look at Jura who spoke up, "Timmy Turner, your friends assured Commander Uchiha that you would be willing to assist us if we helped them rescue you from the Wizard King. We would like to humbly request that assistance now."

"I'm in," Timmy replied without hesitation. Hiei, Sasuke, Death the Kid, and Jura saw the kid get a very serious look over his face as he scanned over the holograms and the floating files in front of him. "I'll take care of this for you-"

"No way!"

Timmy spun his head and looked back to the woman with long orange hair who marched towards the middle of the room with her arms crossed. "Are you kidding me?" Nami snapped past the kid who floated down in height so the top of his head was only at Nami's shoulders. He anxiously glanced to her while the Resistance Commanders gained more uncertain looks as well when they heard her voice.

Sasuke grimaced as he was half-expecting this. He remembered her outburst back when Timmy had shown up and threatened them at Zulu base in Sector 345. "Nami," Timmy began before she could continue her protest. "I do owe it to them-"

"Not as much as you owe it to me," Nami retorted without uncrossing her arms. She darted Timmy a look for him to be quiet too, and Timmy shut his mouth quickly at that stern look on her face. "I would have come to get you even without that monster truck they gave us. Which got destroyed by the way," Nami continued quickly, snapping it at Sasuke when she saw his mouth opening. He gave her a confused look as he remembered them returning with that truck. "It got sabotaged, then blown up. The Wizard King gave us a new one."

Those words tasted bad in Nami's mouth because it suggested even a morsel of gratitude towards Cartman. She still gave Sasuke a harsh look though and said, "We got stuck down there because your vehicle was easy to sabotage. And the Flood nearly killed us all, so don't pretend like you were some huge help to us. Got it?" Nami asked, darting her harsh look from Sasuke around to Hiei, then Kid. She snapped her sneer to Jura as well who put up his hands defensively when she growled at him, as if wondering back, 'What did I say?'

"Come on, Timmy. You're not going on a mission to go kill one of their enemies," Nami scolded the boy she grabbed a hand of and turned away from the Resistance Commanders. Timmy's cheeks turned red and he lowered his gaze down in embarrassment at the way she did that. He had been acting so serious in front of the powerful Resistance leaders, and now he was being treated like the twelve year old he was in front of them.

Jura scratched the back of his head while the three dark-haired Commanders sweatdropped when Timmy glanced back apologetically towards them. Nami had stayed quiet for most of the briefing about the situation in the north, but the four of them had all noticed the way her head lifted back behind Timmy with a dark look on it once it came to the portion of asking Timmy for help.

Once they were out of the room, Timmy pulled his hand from Nami's and flew quickly ahead of her. He spun around and humphed, giving her a harsh look for what just happened that she had to know embarrassed him. "Why did you do that? We're here to help the Resistance-"

"Since when?" Nami retorted back in surprise. "I thought your mission was finding Fairy Godparents? That was supposedly so much more important than everything else, right?" Nami asked while putting her hands down on her hips.

"I mean, that is important too," Timmy started.

"And what about helping us find Zoro?" Nami asked him. "Did you come here because Gray asked you to, or because I did? I can't remember."

"Well… because you did, but I heard that you guys found Zoro-"

"For a minute, sure," Nami snapped back. She froze with her mouth open as Timmy eased his face away. She shut her mouth. Did I raise my voice too loud? Nami felt a lot more hesitant, and she lowered her hands from her hips and just stepped closer to Timmy in that hallway of Resistance Headquarters. "You're not running off again. Or flying off to some distant battlefield a world away."

"I'd be back…" Timmy started but trailed off.

Nami's eyes got softer while he was responding, and it became too hard for the kid to finish that sentence. "I'll be careful this time," Timmy whispered when Nami brought up what happened last time just from that look in her eyes.

"I regret letting you out of my sight," Nami told him. "Knowing what Cartman did to you?" Nami asked him. Her voice hurt and Timmy winced too as he thought back on it. Nami wanted him to remember that though. She went a step farther even, reaching up and grabbing her upper right arm with her left hand and looking away. "Besides, what if something happens to me out there while you aren't there to help me? Again?"

Timmy flew forward in an instant to close the gap and made Nami's head spin back to face his. "I won't let that happen again!" Timmy exclaimed to her.

Nami lifted a small smile to show she believed him. I hate doing this, she thought, feeling guilty when she saw how worried he looked and how guilty he sounded about what she just said. But if it gets you to stay with me this time, I know it's justified. I'm not letting you go again.

"Then we have to stick together, and I already have a mission that we need to go on during this month Sora's given us," Nami continued with her voice returning to normal. She turned from the meeting room Timmy had been summoned to and started away down the hall, and Timmy floated up to her side to keep up with her. Her voice got softer, "We have to keep this a secret from everyone. Something, happened, to Juvia while you were gone."

Nami lowered her gaze to the floor then hesitantly lifted it back to Timmy. She paused for a second as this was going to be hard to tell him. "You would have been with our half of the group anyway when we went north, so you wouldn't have been able to prevent it…"

Day 3

In the early morning hours of the third day of the first ever month in the new dating system on Nexus, Timmy stirred and sat up from the seat he lay on under a blanket. He rubbed his eyes with one hand and yawned. The woman sitting next to where he had been laying turned to see him getting up. "It's still early, Timmy," Nami whispered to the boy who looked her way. He had amazing hearing and so could pick up on what she said even as the wind rushed by their land speeder that Robin was driving farther back on the vehicle.

"Huh? Oh," Timmy glanced up and then to the east at one of the suns poking out over the horizon but barely up at all yet. He reached a hand out and a cooler popped open, and his water bottle flew over to his face. He tilted it telekinetically up and poured some into his mouth, spilling a few drops as he was still only half awake. He shut the bottle and put it back in the cooler while shifting around on the speeder's bench cushions. "Alright then. I'll sleep more," he told the woman at his side who reached over him and pulled the blanket back up that had slid down a bit in his rousing.

Timmy just smiled and nudged his head into Nami's arm when she tucked him in like this. His head shifted up the bench a bit and touched Nami's leg, and she just smiled and leaned in a bit closer to let him use her leg this time rather than folding the seat cushion for a pillow which had unfolded in the night. He looked more comfortable like that and just fell back into sleep, but Nami's smile lowered a bit while thinking of a conversation she had had with him last night.

Her hand she pulled his blanket up with brushed some hair from his face then rested over his head softly. His hat was tucked carefully into the compartment under the railing just next to him while he slept, and she watched as one of the sleeping boy's hands reached into that cubby and curled around the hat. Even asleep, Timmy seemed to be making sure that the hat was still there. What Cartman did to him had a much greater effect on him than I realized.

I hate Cartman, but if there's one good thing that came from all that, it's that Timmy wants to stay with me now. "My memory was all screwed up, Nami. I forgot who had captured me even while I kept trying to fight him. I didn't remember the first confrontation with them. I didn't realize that I didn't remember either. He just, whittled away at my mind. Losing more and more of it until I was a husk so easily controlled. I'm sorry. I should have been there when you called for me! The wish was still active, so even with my mind like that, I heard you calling! Ahhh, I'm sorry!"

Nami's hand she brushed through his hair settled where it was. She closed her eyes and then lowered her head down closer to the boy's as he slept. "You're with me now. I won't leave you, or let you run off again. Whether you like it or not, buster." She wondered if his super hearing still worked while he was sleeping. I promised you, Wanda. I failed that promise. I'm going to take care of him this time. Better this time!

He doesn't have parents or Fairy Godparents anymore. No family at all. She smiled down at the face of the boy she held onto carefully and in her own regret over the painful things he had told her he'd gone through. As much as he had been the one sounding guilty at the time, Nami cursed herself for letting him fly off in the first place. I'm not risking that again. I can be your family, Timmy. I think you know that. I'll make sure you know that.

Robin stared through the second wind-screen that was just over the control console near the back of the speeder. The rest of the speeder had glass windshields lifting up from the railings, higher at the front, but then there was a second screen of glass just over the podium-like control panel she stood behind. There was a radar on the console that needed frequent monitoring, especially if they were going to let Timmy sleep during their travel.

Juvia had woken up much earlier than Nami too, despite being on a driving shift late last night so she barely got any sleep at all. She sat closer to Robin near the back of the speeder, but she stood and looked past the archaeologist towards the two at the front of the vehicle. Juvia's lips pursed at the sight of such innocence and the careful way that Nami was holding Timmy as he slept. "Is something wrong, Juvia?" Robin asked the girl who only looked disturbed at what she was seeing.

Robin thought for a second that there was a longing in Juvia's eyes for something that she could not have now, but she realized that she was seeing something else on her blue-haired friend's face. She looks afraid, Robin thought which had caused her to ask Juvia about it.

Juvia shook her head rapidly in response. She froze though when her mouth opened to deny Robin's concerns as unnecessary. The Rain Woman hesitated for a moment longer then said in a soft voice that made Robin step away from her panel that she did not need to watch constantly, as nothing was on the radar right now. "I'm scared, Robin. What if this doesn't work out? What if-"

Juvia cut herself off and looked away. "You can tell me," Robin assured her. She reached out and put a hand on Juvia's left shoulder. "Tell me," Robin repeated in a stronger voice telling Juvia to do so.

Juvia gulped but then admitted her fear, "What if I snap again? I, don't want to kill anyone else. Juvia doesn't!" She proclaimed that then darted her eyes ahead to check if she got too loud that it woke up Timmy, but neither he nor Nami turned her way. Juvia focused back into Robin's understanding eyes and spoke faster in a nervous voice as she thought Robin was not understanding the reason for her fear to be looking that calm about this, "I feel like it could happen at any time. I'll kill more people like those Fire Nation soldiers. And- and I'm scared, because I don't feel regret about killing them-"

"Don't worry so much, Juvia," Robin told her friend whose shoulder she squeezed tighter. Juvia bit down in frustration that Robin was not taking her fears seriously, but Robin truly was. "I am not going to let that happen," Robin assured her to explain why she was saying this. Juvia lifted her eyes up that she had just glared down with at the speeder. The younger woman hesitated, but Robin made her shoulder squeeze feel more reassuring and even pulled Juvia closer to her. "I promise. I will stop you if you start to go too far, Juvia."

"What else are nakama for?" Robin asked the girl tearing up in front of her. She pulled Juvia in and Juvia rested her head into Robin's shoulder, sighing in relief that told Robin of how much the girl trusted her that her promise actually put Juvia's heart at ease. She kept her own heartbeat steady as Juvia would be able to hear it from where her face rested in Robin's shoulder and chest, but the archaeologist did feel a twinge of her own anxiety after sensing the faith Juvia had in her. I will make sure of it. I'm not going to let it happen again. The fact that we let you die, and that we let this horrible condition plague you, that was our fault as your friends.

Robin rubbed a hand up and down on Juvia's back while the younger woman's breathing slowed down in a restful way. Robin yawned herself and glanced out into the east at the red sun rising over the horizon. It's going to be another long day of travel. We'll reach this Library before long though. I have to believe that the solution will be there. A hope for- no, we already have hope. This is the hope. We need the hope to pay off.

"Hey Robin, I have something I need to tell you." Robin glanced back towards the front of the speeder and the orange-haired woman whose eyes were closed again and looked like she might have fallen back asleep. You told me we could not wait a month before getting help for Juvia. But also that we weren't going to ask anyone else about it. To protect her privacy. It's a lot to do. "I want you to cover for us with the others…"

That was never going to happen, Nami. I am the one who picked our destination in the first place. We are in this together. I told you it would be too difficult for you and Juvia alone to find the cure. And even when you countered about bringing Timmy, I would not let this go. I wanted to spend this break getting stronger. I have learned of many techniques, and a month of training would truly do me much good. But this is more important to me.

What else would I be getting stronger for, if not for the sake of my nakama? Robin's eyes shifted back and down to the top of the girl's blue hair just below her eyes. For Juvia's sake? For the sake, of my family.

A/N Short chapter. Short but sweet! :) Hope you enjoyed the fluff one as we start up the new arc. The next few chapters are all much longer. I'm posting this like 12 hours after the last one, so I guess I didn't give much time for anyone to guess which characters the arc is going to follow. We've got our team though. Let me know any predictions you have on what this team might face on their journey! Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed. 'Til next time!