Sorry for the lateness! Life really got in the way. Well, this chapter makes up for it, I hope you have fun reading it. :) [Edited Jan 25, 2016]

Chapter 2 - I'm like a Bird (Natsu likes Nelly Furtado, so does Happy, suck it Lucy)

I'm like a bird, I'll only fly away

I don't know where my soul is, I don't know where my home is

All I need for you to know is...

–

Lucy's Journal Entry #1 - Road Trip Edition - "What I noticed about this rude cat!"

Dear Journal,

Natsu has hijacked my previous journal for road trip use (which I'm still miffed about by the way) so I bought this one on the way out of Hargeon at a Target. We are parked in the lot while I am cooling off from the asshole behavior from Natsu. I'm surprised I'm still up, especially how stressful the previous day has been! Anyway, this is what I've noticed about Happy, Natsu's Blue Russian cat the past few hours I've been around him:

1) Most of the time with him and Natsu, he's wrapped around Natsu's shoulders like a short haired furry scarf. (The bastard already has a scarf, how much heat can he take?) I commented on the cat-on-shoulder behavior earlier, "What does Happy think he is, a Parrot?" The only response I got was Natsu shrugging and saying "Arrgh!"

Note: The one time he finally got off was whilst we were parked at 7Eleven and he was in the back aka The Danger Zone (ugh).

2) His coat is oddly blue! Like it is as gray as any Blue Russian breed but when you shine a light on this cat, his fur somewhat shimmers blue. I didn't want to add more commentary on this cat since I got a sarcastic response from Natsu the last time. Idiot.

3) Lastly, he seems to be chatty as a cat, and not in a good way. Meaning, he sometimes comments when I do particular things. Like, for example, I was talking to Natsu about my day so far when I bought them lunch and he meowed at me like I was annoying. Another time was when we were heading out of Hargeon, I requested to stop at the local Target after scolding Natsu about my journal, and the cat dared to scoff at me. I was flabbergasted and looked at Natsu for a response, and he seemed so nonchalant about it! This is such a rude cat!

Well, that's my discourse on this road trip for now, I'm finally feeling pretty tired now, thank gods, maybe I'm recovering from prolonged shock… also I feel like this cat is staring at me from the inside. I got to go,

Lucy out.

P.S. I need to end my journal entries with something better.

2 hours before

Lucy felt her eyes shut for a quick second and peered at the dashboard clock seeing it was around 12:30AM. She'd slept 40 minutes in this trip, not even a day had passed since these epic events had occurred. She stretched herself a bit, gazing about her surroundings. She gathered she was alone in the car, with not even Happy and the rude cat scrutiny he usually gave her. She glimpsed out the window to see that they'd stopped at a 7Eleven with a certain pink haired individual walking the aisles. She wouldn't be caught off guard if the cashier was gawking at him like some weirdo especially with his cat and scarf in this horrendous summer heat. She snorted at the image in her head. She sat there, still disoriented from being asleep, and leaned closer towards the dashboard. She felt a strange surface next to her elbow. Her notebook was on there when it should have been on top of her bag to begin with. She opened it out of curiosity. That's when she noticed that new writing, not so messy and not so hers was in it. She started to fume over.

"Does he have no respect for privacy!?" She mulled over feeling irritated. Speaking of the pink haired devil, he exited the store with a bag of snacks and two drinks in his hands. He peeked inside to see her and that glorious grin made an appearance. Seemingly distracted getting in, he spoke up, not noticing the rage face Lucy was making towards him at the moment. Happy was asleep, with not a carein the world that his owner was about to get beaten up probably.

"Hey, you are awake! I thought you would sleep more especially after today. I got two ice coffees, they only had mocha and french vanilla, so you can pic-" He finally noticed how red and puffed up her face was; it wasn't a great sight,

"... why are you so red?"

30 minutes later

After nearly 10 minutes of yelling (from Lucy) and 20 minutes of pouting at the window in silence (also Lucy), Natsu broke the ice, irked at her behavior,"Look, Lucy, I'm sorry, I didn't know it was personal, I wanted to write a list for the tunes. This is a full fledged road trip!" They were driving down the interstate in the middle of the night, and Lucy couldn't grasp why Natsu did it while Natsu hinted the opposite. Expectedly, Happy didn't seem to care about this, although he did wake up when Lucy started to shout. He just gave her an annoyed meow and proceeded to move towards the back where the hazardous wasteland was that Lucy nicknamed "The Danger Zone."

"Natsu, it's a journal, of course, it is! It's a private book for people to write on especially about their feelings." Natsu huffed at this and didn't speak for the next few moments. He just muttered, vexed at her accusation, "Fine, why is it such a big deal? Tunes are essential."

Lucy just shook her head and heeded a sign stating there was a 24 hour Target nearby.

"Natsu, make this exit, I need to get a few things."

Present

She let Natsu keep that journal for his road trip playlist and tore her own entries - which was not really much, just random notes here and there - and found a cute starry journal that fit the bill for her new road trip entries.

She shut her book, just finishing with her entry. She was outside laying on the hood of the car. They were parked in the Target lot around 2 in the morning. Natsu was napping in the car with Happy on his lap this time, and she could hear their snores from the outside. "His manners are bad even when sleeping. Wait... does that even count as manners?" She was outside trying to cool off from her anger with Natsu's outlandish behavior. She knew she acted like it was a bigger deal than it was. In fact, it was probably the thousandth journal she'd written on, but it was privacy and morals that went against his argument. She exhaled soundly and observed the sky; she did miss the stars a bit. She was taken aback that she got over it faster than she expected, and even at all. It was like the freedom of being away from home unleashed her from the burden. She wished she had Natsu's phone to listen to Dreams again but she didn't want to deal with him. Well, she had to deal with the bastard sometime for this road trip. She checked inside once more, and he was completely out in dreamland with a hazy smile and drool in the tips of his mouth. She really needed to wake him up to drive but he was so adorable.

Wait, adorable?!

"Okay, Lucy you need to get that thought out of your head right now!" She took a deep breath yielding to her thoughts and hauled herself inside, shutting the door loudly. Not a peep from either boy or cat.

"Wow, deep sleepers, aren't they?" It was not true, Happy paid no attention to her anyway. Lucy had no other choice but to shake Natsu awake, because they couldn't sleep in this cold dank car for the next few hours. She shook his shoulder,

"Natsu."

He gave out an abrupt growl and still slept on. She shook a bit harder this time, he woke a little and slurred out,"Cold dick, lemme have 5 minutes."

Lucy regarded him that moment. Her curiosity peaked a little wanting to know who "Cold dick" was. but she internally shrugged it off.

"Umm Natsu? We need to go."

That was when Natsu opened his eyes a crack and was perplexed of his surroundings. It took him a literal minute to comprehend that he wasn't where he thought he was. He groaned out and stretched a little, seemingly at a daze. He bore his bleary eyes towards Lucy and asked a question she dreaded for the past two years.

"Can you drive for a bit?"

This stunned her; she knew this would come up but didn't expect it at the same time. She shook her head, too numb to answer. Natsu bounced it off probably thinking she didn't know how. She did know, she just didn't want to; another burden she dealt with but not as easy to get over like the stars. It was also the first time someone hadn't asked her why and she was thankful for that.

"Okay well, I am not up for driving in the interstate right now. We are going to have to stay the night here."

Lucy was not about to have that.

"W-W-Wait... H-here?"

Natsu's eyes widened a little with sincerity, probably wondering what he'd said wrong this time.

"Yeah... Why not?"

Lucy stammered some more and made incoherent sounds. Natsu only heard words like "not decent" "'cold" and "bathroom" from Lucy's flummoxed speech. Her face was red and puffy again; he didn't seem to like when that happened from the last experience.

The guy blew out a sullen exhale just done for the night and raked his hand on his face, "Well, what do you propose and can you speak clearly this time?"

Lucy's face ballooned at this when she looked up on her phone to the closest nicest hotel, at least in her price range. Natsu didn't intend to pay for a hotel when his original plan was to camp out in the cold. Thankfully, there was a nice 24 hour (this must be a road trip stop area) bed and breakfast inn not two blocks away. Natsu acknowledged her, started the car, and drove towards that direction.

–

Lucy was able to book through her phone and got a room with two full beds. She was pretty thrifty and didn't want to pay 70 more jewels for another room. She knew Natsu wasn't going to try anything. He didn't seem the type and her intuition was always dead on. They got the key from the lethargic inn employee. As soon as Lucy opened to the door, Natsu bustled inside, with cat and bag among him. He crashed in the nearest bed and a tell-tale snore came from the bastard, not a minute later. Lucy closed the door in a tired, cantankerous huff and practically dragged her feet to the bathroom.

Not ten minutes later after doing her nightly routine, she came out in her pjs and lugged herself toward the second bed. She glomped on it, covering herself with the blanket like a burrito. That's when she heard a muttered, "Thank you Lucy," and a muffled meow. She made a little smile and drift off to sleep.

"Mama, what's your favorite constellation?"

Both a younger Lucy and Layla were laying on the hill at the mansion gawking at the shimmering night sky.

"Hmmm, I love them all!" she answered with a laugh

Lucy pouted. "Mama, that's not fair!"

Her mom laughed a little harder in response.

She sobered up and was deep in thought. "Well, I can tell you my favorite time when I saw them."

Lucy glowed with excitement at her mom's answer

"Really?! When?!"

Her mom smiled up to the sky and whispered softly, "The night you were born. The stars were shining so bright. Aquarius, Capricorn, Sagittarius, Pisces... They were all there saying hi. I pointed up from the balcony and you, my star, looked up and was glowing, just as you are now." She gazed back at her daughter who was smiling through tears. "That's when I knew you were my star, Lucy."

"I love you, mama."

Lucy woke up and felt revitalized. For a second, she had occupational hazard and was really surprised she slept through Natsu's bear (dragon? chainsaw?) snores. She sprung up, stretched the kinks away, and hummed to herself. She viewed her phone against the nightstand; it was thankfully charged due to Natsu's car. It was around 8 in the morning, the same time yesterday that she began this adventure. She just stood there in awe. She couldn't believe that she was on an adventure with a famous college MMA fighter and with his rude cat, road tripping towards midcountry. This made her excited as well as flustered. Natsu was a bit much for her. She, of course never met people like him or in her class. It was something new for her to deal with;

"I guess it goes with the journey!" she surmised and gathered her things for a shower.

Mid shower, as she was lathering and rinsing her hair, she grasped what she was humming. It was something her mom hummed to her when she was little. She smiled idyllically and felt a warm feeling gathered in her chest. For once in her life, she felt so happy and so free.

The song could have been what her mom created, but she had a feeling it wasn't and decided right there to make it her life's journey to find what song it was.

She continued to hum away and not notice that Natsu had walked in, half asleep with cloudy eyes, headed towards the toilet to pee. It was around that time Lucy finished with her shower. She went and grabbed a towel when she took in Natsu boring his eyes ahead at the wall, disregarding her presence. Her eyes bugged out and she let out a scream loud enough for the entire inn to hear.

–

Not too soon after, Lucy found herself at a breakfast buffet with Natsu and Happy eating their "fair" share. She was pretending she didn't notice them playing with her food. Mr. Mallak, her etitique teacher was probably in hell with her mannerisms the past two days. She really didn't give a shit. She set her gaze on the two monster eaters, not finished from their dozen courses of food. She was secretly pleased that there was still a footprint on Natsu's face after the shower catastrophe.

After the well-timed kick, thankfully after he was done with his business, she sat Natsu down with Happy, who both regarded her like two children getting yelled at by a parent. Natsu had rebutted during her scold fest that she was being mean about it.

Her jaw nearly dropped in shock at the sheer idiocy of the comment and she indignantly replied, "You need to respect boundaries, Natsu!"

Of course, after she simmered down to a bit of between annoyance and weariness, she realized that he must have not known where he was. At least that what she told herself, he did have the appearance of being half asleep. She didn't want to apologize; her pride wouldn't let her. But she wouldn't blame Natsu for the weary stare he gave her.

"You're weird, Lucy. Why are you messing with your food like that?"

She'd soon have more than enough sighs to create a hot air balloon after this trip is done with.

Finally, they hit the road headed towards Hakobe National Park.

"Hakobe like the Mount Hakobe? Does that mean we're near Magnolia already?" Lucy queried with excitement.

Natsu rolled his eyes and scoffed, "No, the national park not the mountain," like it was obvious and Lucy needed geography lessons for where they were going. He proceeded to put on some tunes for the trip and entered the interstate with tense silence from him.

So far the relationship was just made of tension, bitterness and snarky repertoire with Happy meow comments included. Lucy was just not used to a person like Natsu and it looked as if it went the same for Natsu.

An outside viewer would have seen this couple as opposing points on the spectrum. Both were fiery in different aspects; Lucy had formal behavior which Natsu didn't have. Natsu was as careless as she was careful. She planned he went with the flow. One respecting aspect was that he did tend to listen to her, well, at least sometimes. Lucy thought maybe she should try to be understanding; it was something her mother had taught her.

"Kindness comes a long way my star," her mother would say. Sadly, she'd try but patience wasn't her strong suit, which she inherited from her father.

A familiar tune filled the car, with an accompaniment of strings and percussion. Lucy's eyes widened in amusement and surprise.

"You're beautiful, that's for sure

You'll never ever fade

You're lovely but it's not for sure

That I won't ever change"

Lucy hummed along with a subtle smile. This was a great song. But she couldn't hold her surprise for too long.

"I can't believe you have this song in your tunes!"

She shouldn't be that surprised, he had an array of music from nearly every decade and genre. But this took the cake for her for some reason.

"Why are you so shocked? I am a huge Furtado fan!" Natsu's weariness became exasperation. "Look! Even Happy loves her." He pointed back towards the Danger Zone. And he was right, the cat looked like he was in true bliss. Lucy made a face at that. Who knew that cats liked Nelly Furtado? She was pretty damn astonished by this to be honest. Natsu seemed to be bugged by her surprise a little and started singing the chorus offkey on purpose. Lucy just tried to ignore it but she couldn't help but laugh at the scene where Natsu was joined by Happy in this ridiculousness.

Unbeknownst to Lucy, Natsu saw her fit of giggles and the wariness in his eyes disappeared into gentle curiosity and adoration.

–

Lucy viewed previous texts from Jade and Yukino. Her father had dared contact Jade after her lack of response. Jade used her royal status in response and raised a stern voice towards the man, telling him Lucy was unwell from the trip over. This made Lucy feel utterly relieved and very pleased. She loved her friends, especially when they told her father off. She couldn't help but giggle.

"Why are you laughing?" Natsu asked curiously.

Lucy just waved her hand as if to say "Oh, it's nothing."

"Just my friends being silly."

Natsu lifted a brow in response. That's when the car started to shudder for half a minute, and pulled to a stop.

"Oops." Natsu looked sheepish and scratched the back of his head nervously.

Lucy felt herself in a panic at his expression. "What do you mean 'oops?'"

"As in I forgot to get gas before the interstate?" He let out a nervous laugh.

She facepalmed at this; they were two teenagers with a cat (or maybe Natsu's case, a child) on a road trip. Of course, there were important, essential things that were going to be forgotten! She surveyed the area and was a tad afraid. They were practically in the middle of fucking nowhere, desert in the middle of the afternoon. She noticed the car was getting a bit warmer than she'd like. Natsu took action, grabbed his backpack and went towards the trunk. This jarred Lucy from her internal thoughts and she rushed to join him.

Natsu started to walk towards the direction they were heading with Happy (on his shoulders) and a gas container in toll.

"Natsu, wait! Where are you going?"

Natsu stared straight ahead with a blank look on his face. "Where do you think? To the nearest gas station," he said in a "duh" tone.

She caught up with him, panting, the sun seeming to glaring at her. She was grateful she added SPF in her morning beauty regime not too long ago.

"Without me?"

He pondered that and held out the keys. "Oh yeah, here's the keys. Keep The Dragon safe."

She didn't bother to get them and was appalled by his nonchalant manner. "You are going to leave me in the car in this blistering heat?!"

He looked confounded. "It's hot?" he questioned as if it was going to rain on a sunny cloudless day.

Lucy furiously nodded and pointed towards the weather app in her phone.

"Oh sorry! I usually don't feel the heat. I am immune to it, I guess." He shrugged and walked on carelessly, pressing on the car lock on his key just to be safe.

"No wonder they call him Salamander! It explains the multiple scarves especially the furry creature he had on. Also prone to explosives it seems." She thought irately.

At least a minute into the walk, she remembered something, Capricorn and her mom helped set her up with driver's insurance. She nearly jumped up and down in joy as she went through her phone to find the number. Horogium insurance, like Triple A they will help with your gas needs!

"Natsu, wait, I have a solution!" She seemed so giddy at this discovery that he stopped to hear her explanation,

"Well, I have Horogium, which if we can wait, we can get our gas and not walk this dreaded desert!" She felt so smug at this. Natsu didn't seem amused, though.

"Really? But isn't it supposed to be for a car and driver?"

This made her smile drop a little. "Umm yeah…"

He furrowed his brow. "I thought you didn't know how to drive?"

"Umm, I do, but I don't drive." Her demeanor slumped.

"Oh, no worries," he waved it off as he raised up his phone,

"We are not but two miles to the closest gas station. Come on."

He turned about and continued on. She bit her lip in thought, and felt a bit down. She can't say she didn't try as she shrugged and followed him with a little slower, sadder step than before.

–

By a quarter mile later, Lucy regretted wearing only her flip flops, but was happy to be wearing a skirt and a t-shirt. She was dying, dragging her feet and nearly keeling over. Natsu took a notice when she meant to stop for a second but was really a minute.

"Lucy, catch!"

She looked up to see a water bottle thrown fiercely in her direction. She was lucky she didn't fall over when she caught it. She did shake her hand a little to wave off the stinging pain she got after.

"Thanks!" She smiled affectionately and drank a huge gulp of it. It was a tad warm but very refreshing. She caught up to him, smiling the rest of the way, not seeing the hint of blush he had in his cheeks.

At last, the gas station was in sight. Lucy resisted the urge to kiss the ground at her feet; she didn't want to hear Natsu calling her weird once again. Lucy got her phone out to see the time. It was a quarter of 2. This trip was delayed at least another day due to lack of gas. She set a reminder on her phone to ask Natsu about gas for later in the trip.

They entered the deserted station, feeling a little cooler air from the store inside. She made a happy sigh as she wandered off to see what was in stock. She went towards the freezer to view the cold selection as Natsu called in for some service. Natsu talked to the gas attendant with a large light brown hair pompadour and a scowl who was smoking a pipe. He told him about their situation, and the attendant nodded understandingly, not even looking like he was judging Natsu's appearance. Lucy notably wondered how strange people can be.

She got herself a Peach Tea Snapple and a Starbucks coffee drink for later. She went over to the counter with a polite smile, the attendant seem to dote on her for some reason. She really hoped he didn't know who she was. That was when she saw him stare downward, and she squinted her eyes a little at this when a throat cleared the tension.

"And these too," Natsu added setting his gaze on the drinks Lucy wanted. He sounded a little peeved. He had a bunch of snacks on there as well, and Lucy recognized that he got her favorite chips and candy too.

"Hey, Lucy, those drinks can dehydrate you, get a water as well." This dazzled Lucy a little and she gave him a grin. It was nice of him to think of that. He seemed to stare down the attendant didn't think of it as anything, just happy he'd paid a thought to her health. "Plus he's an athlete, he should know," she thought profoundly. As she went to get a couple of waters for her and Natsu, she felt a presence just towards the end of the store. She peered about to see a little boy, shy of seven, in a gloomy state, sitting on a step of a porch and staring out the open distance. Not one to leave a poor soul alone, she went over to see what was wrong with the boy.

"Hello, I'm Lucy," she said kindly.. The midnight haired boy didn't bother to look up, just sadly licked his ice cream bar.

"Hey," the boy shyly muttered out.

"What's your name?" She sat next to him giving him an open smile.

"Romeo." He was pouting a little, it would have been adorable if it wasn't so sad.

"So, Romeo, what's got you down in the dumps?" she said compassionately

"My dad." Lucy furrowed her brow in confusion,

"The guy working the store?"

Romeo let out a snort. "No that's my uncle Wakaba. The perv." He muttered out the latter.

That's when Lucy let out her own snort, not surprised by this.

"Anyway, my dad is missing."

This shook Lucy a little, the kid just told it to her straight similar to the pink haired guy inside.

"Oh, for how long?" He finally looked at her,

"For two days. He went to tow a car over in the forest nearby and got lost. He hasn't answered his phone or anything."

"Two days! Are they out looking for him?"

"That's the thing! We contacted the sheriff and the highway patrol and they are not answering any of our calls."

He was a little hurt by this, poor kid. This was really unfair. Sure they were out in the middle of nowhere but there should have been help available especially for a man with a young boy. She had to talk about Jade about this. This was really upsetting to say the least. It would be hilarious to see that phone call too. This time she'd be sure to be there to witness it. She loved it when Jade took charge, especially to assholes like her dad.

Suddenly there was a slam inside the store. She viewed inside, seeing Natsu in a fit of anger and confronting Wakaba about something. She ran in, leaving Romeo puzzled about what was going on.

"Natsu! What-"

He didn't seem to pay attention. He was blind with rage

He pointed to Romeo. "And you did nothing? That poor boy needs his father!"

"You got to understand, this store is our place of business! Someone needed to watch it!" Wakaba said, trying to defend himself. This made Lucy judge him a bit more.

"You could've closed it for the day. What's the loss of one day to search for someone?" Lucy added.

That was when Natsu walked over to Romeo and ruffled his hair. He walked out to get the gas needed for The Dragon. He was fuming from what Lucy saw, like he was going to combust in flames if he wasn't too careful. Lucy ran after him, a bit afraid to see what he was going to do.

"Natsu! Wait!" He was heading back towards the direction the car was in. She swore this was the billionth time she'd asked him to hold up for her. She really needed to get some exercise after this. "Natsu! What are you doing?"

He turned to her a little to see what she had to say. "I'm going after him."

He didn't even stare at her. His face was contorted a little and his eyes were haunted,

Lucy blew out air, and nodded. "Okay." He took a step when she added, "I'm coming with you." He looked like he was about to argue, so she said, "No buts! I'm coming with you and that's final. You need a second person for this, a partner to help you out. I don't care if you are trained in these situations with mortal combat and whatever else you do, you need someone with you, okay?"

His eyes widened at her last word a little in wonder. Then, at an instant, his face went blank after like it hadn't happened, and he reluctantly nodded. They stood there, silent for a minute and stared at each other heatedly, trying to see through one another. Lucy averted her eyes first with heat flushing her cheeks.

"Okay, well let me get the info and a map for the forest. Also the things we got from the store. Why don't you load the car with gas and meet me here?"

He nodded once again and swiftly headed back towards the car. Hopefully, he didn't abandon her because the guy seemed determined to find Romeo's dad like it was his own dad. She saved that thought for a later date.

She had to ask Natsu to get the car because she was still tired from the walk and really needed to change her flip flops to sneakers for this. She went to get information from Wakaba who was a little scared from Natsu's harsh encounter. He gave it out straight away as predicted, and stared at her face only, like he was afraid that Natsu would pop in and fuck him up. Lucy appreciated that, and she tried not to giggle at Wakaba's fearful demeanor. She knew that people's strengths varied. Natsu was excellent at confrontation even if it was a bit wild. But also if it was about saving someone, he'd be there. As Romeo was giving her a few ice cream bars to add with their other merch in a bag, Strawberry milk, Banana as well as Milk (probably for Happy), she heard a honk. She gratefully grabbed the ice cream bars and patted Romeo.

"We will back sooner than you know it! You have our numbers to contact. So don't worry about a thing!"

Romeo's eyes teared up a little and he sniffed, "Okay!"

–

Lucy ran outside, beaming at the sight of Natsu waiting for her in the car, even though he did seem a little impatient, understandably as it was a rescue mission.

She clambered in, clicking on her seatbelt, grabbing a hold of the bars for Natsu to choose from. He seemed befuddled and a little grateful, and chose the banana one. Lucy grabbed a bowl she'd seen inside the danger zone, and unwrapped and placed the milk one on it for Happy. At the moment she placed it in the middle of the danger zone for him to sit and eat, the cat jumped off Natsu's shoulder, sniffed at it and licked some and seemed content about it. He meowed at her also gratefully.

Natsu drove off in a hurry with Lucy holding the map telling him which direction he should take. "Yeah I know the way," he responded briskly,

"You've been in the area before?" she queried a little flummoxed at his response,

"Yeah I've trained there before," he said and that was the end of it at least for that subject.

Not 2 minutes later, for once, Natsu was savoring his food,

"This is so good, hell it would be better with some chili and lime powder!"

Lucy wrinkled her nose a bit at that but internally shrugged and thought "What the hell? You have to be understanding about something with him."

"Like Mangonadas?" She said casually, and that beaming grin appeared again.

"Hell yes! That shit is awesome!"

He brightened up instantly, and that made her smile back.

"Maybe after this mission we should get some?" she offered a truce from bitterness and tension in the past several hours of this trip.

"Yes! We definitely should."

He smiled on, and put the volume louder for this next song which seemed to be a Queen song.

"Flash! Ahhhhhh! we'll save the universe!"

This time, he didn't sing to annoy her, just making her sing along with the chorus to get Macao Conbolt back to his son pronto.

Awhile later, after Natsu's spot on singing to Como De Flor - the guy had hell of a voice - they sighted the Hakobe National Park sign. Natsu snickered a bit.

"What?" Lucy dared to question it.

"I can't believe you didn't know there was a national park."

Lucy groaned at the childish brat. "For your information, shut the fuck up."

She felt in an instant that Jade would be proud of her for that. "Rebel Lucy for the win," she'd probably say.

–

Within two miles of the park, they made it off road where supposedly Macao disappeared to. According to Wakaba (this made her internally giggle, it was so close to wikipedia), the client in need called and yelled at them for not arriving where they were at. They directly told him that they'd call Horogium which they should have done in the first place. She let out a snort when she was being told this part.

Lucy recounted all this to Natsu who also cackled at the wikipedia joke and client/Horogium story. He nodded knowingly at her when she said what direction Macao was heading towards.

"I think I know where he is," he murmured more to himself than to Lucy.

He drove on within a mile and stopped near a shady tree.

Natsu got out, carrying his backpack and surveyed the area towards the left and squinted like he knew what was there. Lucy met up with his side and looked up to see what he was thinking.

"I gotta go alone."

Her eyebrow went straight up at this "But Natsu, you can't do this on your own, you need-"

Natsu grit his teeth and glared, trying to hold in his anger. He breathed heavy air through his nose trying to calm it down.

"Lucy, it's better to be here because I need someone on call just in case. Plus I know this place like the back of my hand, you didn't even know it existed."

He set a milder gaze on her. Lucy gulped and nodded hesitantly, "Okay, that's good thinking."

He gazed at her with an expression she couldn't name, and said, "I'll be back soon."

He walked towards the left side and disappeared within the trees. Lucy went inside the car listlessly. She stared at the driver's side, seeing the keys were still in the ignition and heard a silent hum in the background because Natsu took his phone. She knew there was no other way if she wanted to help the best she could. She guessed this was a good option, but what if Natsu got hurt and lost too? Would she drive away for help with a mere map at her fingertips? She would be scared to drive anyway. She was dreading being alone, when she heard a little meow in the back, like it was said to comfort her. She peeked over at the danger zone seeing Happy licking his chops after finishing up his milk ice cream.

She smiled at the sight and looked at the back in horror. She smirked. Oh, she knew what to do to make the time pass.

–

She couldn't believe how much crap there was in the back; it was like hell on earth. She was thankful that they were in the shade while she worked hard to clean it up. She only had wet ones to clean the gunky spots that she feared to be radioactive waste. She had some plastic bags and rubber bands on her hands to cover up for germs.

Happy was scrutinizing her and making random meow comments, which were probably against her cleaning. He seemed to be a bit disgruntled that his little area was getting cleared out. It was true about them being creatures of habit. She was also grateful to find trash bags in her luggage to put the horrifying crap inside.

She pondered where to put the trash at and decided the trunk was the safer option. She didn't want to trash the nature of this park, that was just plain rude. She opened the trunk which was spacious for a Civic but perfect for 3 bags of trash. She stuffed them inside when a little silver thing caught the light.

It was inside of Natsu's luggage, and curiosity got to her as she zipped open the bag a little further. There was photo with silver frame of a young boy and a man, both with the same grin and the man making bunny ears on the boy. She recognized the boy instantly as there was no discounting that shade of pink for hair. It was Natsu, probably about the same age as Romeo with a man who was in his late 30s with red hair and scars on his temple.

She was trapped in her thoughts when she heard a familiar voice calling out to her.

She shook out of it and stared towards the direction Natsu once went in. She slipped the photo back, shutting the truck in and rushed over to see where Natsu was calling her. She caught a glimpse of Natsu looking a little tired for once while holding against his shoulders an unconscious midnight haired and tanned skinned man who was covered with injuries.

"Lucy?" He caught her in view. "A little help?"

Lucy ran over to help pick up Macao and headed towards the car. She told Natsu to wait there for a second as she opened the back. Natsu regarded the back with a raised brow.

"Well, where else would we put him?"

He muttered, "Point," and they both placed him inside gently.

Natsu leaned against the car, looking worse for wear and trying to catch his breath. Lucy went over to her side to get water which Natsu took appreciatively and gulped it down.

After he caught his breath, he said, "I found him at a nearby ravine. He was half awake, a little delirious, and making ape sounds for some reason."

Lucy seemed amused by that.

"So, I gave him some water to hydrate him. He thought I was some wizard trying to murder him at first."

"Okay this is sad but funny." she thought with mirth.

"I knew he was going to be there because some people turn the wrong direction and head to that ravine. He luckily survived it, but his tow truck was nowhere to be found. Must have crashed in there because it's pretty deep."

Lucy looked befuddled and asked, "So how did you find him?"

Natsu snickered. "Let's just say the ape sounds were pretty loud."

Lucy just palmed her face, "God, Natsu, I am really trying not to laugh here."

He waved it off as if it wasn't insulting."Don't worry about it, he'll be fine, but he broke a few ribs so we need to head to the nearest hospital. Other than that, he just needs a little more food and water," he said as he walked over to the driver side.

"You seem to know what to do in this situation," she pointed out

"Believe it or not this isn't my first rodeo! In fact, I've been in a Hangover situation, except this was for my friend's 21st. He got so fucked up drunk!" His speech got more passionate by the minute. "And his girlfriend went insane and threatened our nuts to find the bastard. We found him in the middle of Magnolia forest passed out with a broken leg. The funny thing was he was still drunk and telling us secrets about Fairy Tail. Like who hooked up with whom and how his girlfriend was a demon in the sack." He was close to tears laughing recalling all of this. "That didn't go over too well. Couch for him the rest of the week that's for sure."

At the end of Natsu's story, she was laughing her head off. This was the first time she heard Natsu tell a story so intensely and obviously enjoying it.

"You seemed to love talking about Fairy Tail."

He grinned. "We look out for our friends always, and well, you're a friend Lucy, and very nice, so might as well tell you!"

He started the car and made a u-turn back to the gas station's direction, he didn't seem to notice his front passenger, how flushed she was and close to tears to hear that from him. She'd only known his for a couple days and already this fiery guy was more than meets the eye.

–

Lucy looked over to Macao mid trip, worried about his condition. She called on the way to the gas station to tell the good news. Wakaba said the ambulance was on their way and would probably be around when they got there. Macao appeared calm in his sleep, so she queried Natsu on why he seemed so.

"Oh, I gave him some ibuprofen to relieve the pain."

Her brow furrowed even more.

"Is that safe?"

He nodded. "As long as you give them something to eat and drink, the person would be fine."

Again, not his first rodeo and he seemed to speak from experience.

"I learned that from my aunts actually. I was prone to injuries when I was little and sometimes I'd get a scolding from Porlyusica but Grandine was always sweet about it."

Lucy's eyes became circles.

"... Porlyusica and Grandine Marvel are your aunts?"

He was befuddled by her question

"Yep! Why?"

She ignored that question, and said, "The next I'm going to hear is that Gildarts Clive is your cousin or something."

Natsu laughed at that.

"Nope, he's my mentor! Gajeel is my coz."

For some apparent reason, this made Lucy want to hit her head in the dashboard. Gajeel Redfox was Natsu's cousin, the winner of last year's UFC cagefighting championship that Capricorn fangasmed about. She shouldn't even care. She was famous herself if you looked at the wealthy side of things.

–

They did reach the gas station in time for the ambulance. Romeo gave both Lucy and Natsu the biggest hug and ran to join in on the ride. Wakaba, without his pipe this time, went in as well.

"I asked my wife to take over for the night. My friend needs me."

She also made a face when he said "wife," and seeing that look made him sheepish.

"Poor gal, she has to deal with that asshole."

She asked where the trash bin was and he pointed at the back out the store. She got the keys from Natsu to open the trunk and went over to throw away the hazardous trash. She dusted off her hands and used two wet ones to clean up the germs from the waste.

She went into the store to see if there was any cleaning supplies, meeting Wakaba's wife Maria. She was a large woman, and probably at least taller than Wakaba himself, with pretty light brown curls, and fully figured. She gave Lucy a bright warm smile, greeting her. She smiled back and made small talk about her adventure so far. Maria made numerous comments on her husband and how much he stayed here when he wasn't even needed. Lucy shook her head, judging the bastard a little more for leaving his wife here so he could escape.

"What an asshole."

Then Maria spoke about how grateful she was that they found Macao for them. Lucy blushed and claimed it was all Natsu, and she just helped with the information. Maria still praised her for it and added, "I know my husband is something else, but he tries his hardest for Macao, even when he isn't needed, he still provides assistance."

Maria then followed her out with the cleaning supplies and gave her some food she made for them on the go. Lucy packed it in along with the cleaning supplies in the truck for future cases.

Maria went to greet her husband goodbye just in time as they were leaving. Lucy and her waved goodbye to them and watched the ambulance until it turned into a speck in the distance.

She gave Lucy a big hug, squishing against her large figure, telling her to be careful and take care, and went back into the store.\

–

It was close to sunset and for some reason that made Lucy a little more exhausted, even though Natsu did all the work for finding Macao.

"It must have been the walk." She internally speculated as she spied over to Natsu, who was staring at the sunset while he laid on the hood of his car.

Natsu was rarely peaceful, but she recalled another similar (cute) moment the night before with a DS in hand and Happy watching, concentrating. This time, it was different than before because he was always loud and proud or even moody and tense. Watching him scratch his relaxing cat's ears made him seem gentle for once. He looked over to see her staring with a heated gaze, and this made Lucy blush a little.

"So… umm ready to go?" she dared to question.

He gave her that look from before, the one she didn't know of and grinned. He jumped down on the pavement with ease and wrapped Happy around his neck. "Yeah, let's go, we need to get to Magnolia quickly now right?" he said as he walked over to her.

She regarded him a soft smile, and he looked at her in wonder at her expression. Something about it must have been different.

"Yeah, I guess," she said wistfully, walking over to the passenger side

"Yes! Our adventure starts again. We'll be heading to Magnolia in the morning, I know just the shortcut!"

They both got in and clicked on their seatbelts, Lucy felt like the journey shouldn't end so soon. She needed more time but then her father was waiting for her, and she couldn' this was her freedom, the summer before her dreadful life started.

"Umm Natsu?"

He looked up fiddling with his phone, probably adding another song to his playlist.

"Yeah?"

She gulped nervously,

"Is the shortcut a scenic route?"

He looked away, pondered on that and shook his head.

"No, not really, just a lot of road and nothing to look at, why?"

She seemed sad at the prospect. "Is there one?" she asked.

He nodded,

"Yeah it's a lot of prairie and mountains with tons of stars in the sky but it'll take another day to get to Magnolia."

She took in sight the first stars twinkling into view. They were losing the light from the sun, dimming for the night ahead and the stars were such a vision.

"Such a night like this…" she whispered to herself and questioned "Is this the road?"

He nodded again.

"Yeah and it passes by the forest as well. If you make an exit, it'll head to the prairies and mountains. It is an amazing sight."

He whispered the last part with a soft tone. He dwelled upon it like recalling some fond memories. That settled it, she was going to do one day more. Screw her father, screw Sawarr and screw her upcoming life, she needed this adventure!

She smiled with mirth. "Well then… care to make a little detour?"

Natsu's Playlist #2 (aka Natsu loves Nelly Furtado, So does Happy, suck it Lucy!)

Seven Nation Army by The White Stripes (a must, can't deny Jack and Meg)

Lose Control by Missy Elliott feat Ciara and Fatman Snoop (Can't help it! Also dancing is required!)

Space Jam by Quad City DJ (Lucy made a smile at this one and yelled out "Childhood!")

Harder Better Faster Stronger by Daft Punk (my workout jam and also staying awake)

Sing by Blur

I'm like a bird by Nelly Furtado (Tried to annoy Lucy with this, she just laughed)

Decade under the influence by Taking Back Sunday (Road trip tune about exes, I don't have one but there's a certain someone who is annoying like one right next to me!)

Oblivion by Bastille

Summertime by Billie Holiday

No Scrubs by TLC (for those pricks out there)

Flash! by Queen (Team Natsu on a mission!)

Cruel Summer by Bananarama (Lucy sang along with this one)

Como La Flor by Selena (Selenas! Great movie and awesome singer, sobbed at the end, who didn't? I know my asshole cousin did as well the macho bastard)

Piece of my heart by Janis Joplin (it's a requirement to scream along)

The Great Escape by Boys like Girls (Lucy loves this one, we're escaping for one more day! yosh!)

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