"Papa, wake up."

"It's time to wake up, Natsu."

Natsu Dragneel's eyelids twitched before slowly opening to the smiling faces of his wife and his daughter.

"Morning." He yawned.

Erza chuckled. "It's almost 2 in the afternoon."

"Afternoon then." His head resting comfortably on his wife's thighs Natsu rose to a sitting position and yawned again. "Are we here?"

"Yes." Erza nodded. "Kagura and Happy are waiting for us outside the station."

Natsu looked out of the train windows but saw nothing but colored lights dimly illuminating darkness. "Wait, where are we? It's completely dark."

"In a tunnel. Now come on." Erza stood up from her seat and held Aura's hand. "We don't have long before the train leaves again."

"Alright. Give me a minute." Natsu stood up and grabbed the bags from the overhead compartment. Luckily the train had lights inside the cabin to compensate for the darkness of the tunnel outside. Once he secured the bags he followed Erza and Aura out of the train and into the tunnel proper. As the train pulled out of the dark station, Natsu looked around in wonder. The metal platforms and tracks inside the tunnel were beautifully lit by various lacrima and candles peppered throughout.

"The station is underground." Erza explained to her husband. "So they have to use a lacrima to keep it illuminated for travelers entering and exiting the trains. At least that's what the conductor said when we arrived."

"It's really pretty." Aura marveled.

"Yeah." Natsu agreed with a nod. The trio reached a flight of stairs that seemed to end at a light at the top. Natsu held out his hand to his daughter. "I'll carry you, Aura." To his surprise she refused.

"I can do it by myself, Papa." She puffed out her cheeks in a pout, causing her father to chuckle.

"Sorry. Sorry." He apologized. "You're right. You're a big girl."

Aura nodded firmly and trotted up the stairs, Natsu and Erza not too far behind.

"Are you feeling alright?" Erza asked Natsu. "You slept the entire way. Any lingering effects from your motion sickness?"

"I'm a little queasy, but it's nothing really serious. How long was I out?"

"The train ride lasted two days. You were practically comatose the entire time."

Natsu's eyes widened. "Really?"

Erza nodded.

"I didn't really feel anything after we left Magnolia. My body starts shutting down when I get on vehicles now."

"Shutting down?"

"Yeah. I still get sick, but instead of groaning in pain and puking I start to fall asleep. I usually don't wake up until the vehicle stops."

"That explains why you would stir every so often when we stopped at different stations."

"I guess so."

"Have you noticed anything else…strange?"

"Not really. Why?"

"It's nothing. I was just curious."

"Um, alright." He was struck curious by his wife's rather out of the blue question, but he didn't pursue the thought.

They continued to ascend the stairs to the exit. It felt like they would never reach the end. "How long is this thing?" Natsu groaned.

"It shouldn't be much longer."

"Mama! Papa! Up here!"

Natsu and Erza saw their daughter standing at the exit to the tunnel, waving her arms at them. "Hurry up!"

"How did she get up there so fast?" Natsu questioned.

"She's young." Erza smiled. "She has a lot of energy to spare."

Natsu and Erza exited the tunnel to an explosion of light. When their eyes adjusted, they were greeted by the sights of Happy, Kagura, and Aura standing before them.

"About time you arrived." Kagura said. "We thought the train had departed with you on it."

"Aye." Happy nodded. "You two are really slow."

The warm city air entered Natsu's nostrils, carrying with it the mixing smells of flowers and exotic meals. He rubbed his rumbling stomach.

"I guess you would be hungry after all of that riding." Erza laughed at her husband. "Shall we go look for something to eat?"

"Yeah!" Aura and Happy exclaimed.

"I could use something to eat." Kagura voiced.

Happening upon a restaurant close to the station, the group were seated in the outside patio area and awaited their food after ordering. This gave them the opportunity to look out at the city itself.

The streets were paved with smooth and polished stone. Tread upon by both horse-drawn carriages and magic mobiles. The people of this new city seemed to walk with a purpose, wearing suits, dresses, and other manner of fancy dress as they walked along the streets to their destinations.

"Somehow I feel out of place." Erza giggled.

"Everyone looks so nice."Happy noted.

"I can't recall the last time I saw so many magic-mobiles in one place." Kagura commented. Even she was surprised by the sights she was seeing.

Natsu rested his head on his hand. His eyes absently following the random movements of vehicles and people.

"What's wrong, Papa?"

Natsu looked over to his daughter. Seeing her wide eyes filled with concern, he patted her head with a smile to assuage her troubles. "Nothing. Just looking at how different things are compared to Magnolia."

Erza sipped from her cup of tea before she spoke. "It hardly seems real that we actually left Fiore."

"I hope the others are doing alright." Happy wondered.

"Me too." Aura voiced.

"How long do we plan on staying here?" Kagura asked.

"I was thinking we stay for a month or so before moving on to the next country." Erza explained.

"Do we really have enough money to travel the entirety of Earth Land?"

"If worse comes to worst we could always walk to the next country."

"I hope you're joking."

Erza grinned. This didn't fill Kagura with much confidence.

A maid with dark-green hair arrived at the table with plates of food in hand and placed them before their respective owners. "Sorry for the wait. Here's your food." Erza - as expected - ordered a piece of strawberry cake, placed before Kagura was a small bowl of salad, Happy received a cooked salmon, Aura was given a plate of pasta, and Natsu received a steak, a piece of chicken, pasta, and potato stew. He wondered if that was really enough to fill him up.

"Thank you." Erza said to the waitress. She carefully sliced into the cake with her fork and examined for any imperfections. Seeing nothing wrong with external presentation of the dessert, she placed it in her mouth. Her eyes widened as soon as the cake hit her tongue. A bold combination of strawberry and vanilla frosting exploded into the her mouth. Causing her cheeks to tingle from the sweetness. The cake was just the right amount of spongy. It almost made her cry. She squealed happily as she chewed.

Kagura looked to her quizzically. "Does she always do this?"

"Every time she eats strawberry cake." Happy answered.

"Odd."

"Um, excuse me." The waitress called, gathering the table's attention. They forgot she was still standing there. "I don't mean to be rude, but are you all perhaps…tourists?"

Erza nodded, having come down from her sugar high. "Yes we are. We're originally from Fiore."

The waitress' eyes widened. "Fiore? Are you vacationing here?"

"In a sense. Do you know of any tourists spots in the country that we could visit?"

The waitress eagerly nodded. "Yes! I was raised in this country, so I know a few good places to visit."

"Do you think you would be able to write them down for us?"

"Sure! I'll be right back." The waitress practically skipped back into the restaurant.

After finishing their meal, Natsu and the others found themselves downtown. Now equipped with the map of the country given to them by the waitress from the restaurant.

"There is certainly a lot to do here." Erza noted as she looked over the map. It was marked with cities as well as list of attractions. "We may not have time to visit all of before we leave."

"Speaking of which, where are we going to live?" Kagura inquired. "I don't suppose you have a place in mind here in the city?"

"I hadn't actually thought that far." Erza admitted with a small laugh. "I was so caught up in the rush of the city's atmosphere that I forgot."

"The places here look way more expensive than Lucy's place." Happy said. "Can we afford any of them?"

"Why don't we build our own place?" Natsu suggested. "The map says there's a forest outside of town right?"

Everyone looked to the dragon slayer in bewilderment.

"What?" he questioned. "It makes a lot more sense than spending money on a place we're gonna leave anyway. If we build a house we can just leave and not worry about having to pay money. I mean it's not that hard. Happy and I built our house in back Fiore." Everyone remained silent. Natsu was starting to get nervous. "Would you guys say something already? You're freaking me out."

"That idea actually makes sense." His wife finally said in awe.

"I'm surprised you thought of that on your own, Salamander." Kagura confessed with wide-eyes.

"Aye." Happy nodded.

"You're really smart, Papa." Aura said with wonder.

Natsu's burned red and he looked away. "You don't have to make fun of me."

"Shall we find a spot to build?" Erza asked the others.

Kagura nodded.

"Aye!" Happy and Aura chirped.

"Lead the way, Natsu." Erza directed.

"Ok, follow me." Natsu grabbed Aura and placed her on his shoulders - much to her delight - and reached for Erza's hand as he walked past her with a wide smile on his face.

Erza reciprocated and placed her hand in his, smiling warmly as he pulled her along.

"Go, Papa! Go!" Aura commanded, a happy smile on her lips as she pointed ahead to the outskirts of town. "Full speed ahead!"

"Yes! Ma'am!" Natsu saluted. "Let's go, Happy!"

"Aye, sir!"

Kagura and the four of them with a genuine smile of her own.

Their journey had just begun.

Well you guys requested it so here it is. Something to tide you all over until I get around to working on the third story.

Like I said in the Announcements chapter of 7 Years and Counting (If you read it). This won't be anything big or epic. It will just be a bunch of short drabbles about some of the things Natsu and the others will be doing during the year timeskip. Nothing plot important will be in this collection. As such this will be updated sporadically, usually when an idea strikes me so it has no set schedule. I also may have a couple chapters about the other Fairy Tail members, but I haven't decided yet.

As always leave a comment/review with your thoughts and thanks for reading.