Chaos & Salamander

Chapter 49 - Honey Apple Inn

Natsu's POV

Damn that Happy. He's upset at me for burning his secret fish stash but in my defence, it was entirely his fault. If he didn't tease me so much then I wouldn't have had to do it. He pushed me to it! Now we're both in a stalemate, refusing to break the silent treatment.

As soon as we stopped in Hargeon, I had to piggyback a sickly unconscious Lucy off of the train while Gray carried Wendy. While we were heading towards the hotel to drop off our stuff, I felt Lucy being pulled back from my grip. I looked over my shoulder and saw Happy trying to pull Lucy off of my back. Probably to carry her instead of me.

I growled and tightened my hold on Lucy. He tugged her again but I pulled back. Neither of us said a word except glare at each other. Lucy weakly shook back and forth from our tug-of-war. She groaned sickly. "Stop the motion sickness combo" she groaned and then Happy and I stopped pulling her. "We're not a vehicle!" we shouted in unison.

"We're here" Erza announced, turning our attention away from our fight. In front of us was a light blue three storey building. A sign hung outside saying 'Honey Apple Inn'. Lucy snapped out of her motion sickness and looked up at the building. "This looks nice" she quietly commented. "Ah, Natsu. You can put me down now" she said as she tapped my shoulder. I was hesitant to put her down but did it anyway.

I noticed a small blush dusted her cheeks. Was she sick? I put my hand on her forehead to feel her temperature and she flinched in surprise. She was warm but that could've been because of her magic. "W-What are you doing?" she asked, flustered. Since she didn't seem to be sick, I removed my hand and then turned away without saying a word. A little away from me, I noticed Gray with his mouth hanging open as he watched us. I hope a fly flies in and chokes him.

We stepped into the inn and walked up to the front desk. "Welcome to the Honey Apple Inn. How can I help you?" the brown-haired man behind the reception desk said with a bright smile. "Hello, we're the Fairy Tail wizards. We have a reservation" Erza told the man. The man looked down at his clipboard. "Ah, yes. I have three rooms for you, two doubles and one single room. Give me a moment to get your keys" he said and then turned around to get our keys.

After a few seconds, he turned back around and handed Erza our keys. "Don't hesitate to ask me if you need anything" he said. "Thank you" Erza replied and then we walked a little away from the reception desk. "Who wants the single room?" she asked. Gray tsked, "I bet Chaos wants the single room" he muttered.

Before anyone could choose their room, I grabbed one of the double rooms and then grabbed Lucy's wrist. I pulled her along with me towards the stairs leading up to our room floor. "Did that just happen?" I heard Gray say in surprise behind us. "Natsu, wouldn't it be better if I stayed in the same room as one of the girls or stay in the single room?" Lucy asked, uncertain. "No, you stay with me" I replied, without looking back at her.

Soon we reached our room and I unlocked the door. When we opened the door, we were greeted by a clean white and blue room. The room walls were white with a tropical painting hanging above the two single beds. Each bed had dark wood bedheads and were covered in white sheets. Teal cushions and throw blankets decorated the beds. A view of the ocean could be seen outside our room via a balcony. Overall, it was a very nice room.

"Wow, this room is amazing" Lucy commented as she looked around the room before sitting on the edge of the bed closest to the balcony. Looks like I'm taking the bed closest to the door. Suddenly she started looking around the room for something. "Where's Happy? Didn't he come with us?" she asked. I scoffed, "who cares" I muttered. He can stay with one of the others for all I care.

Lucy lightly glared at me. "You shouldn't say that. Isn't he your best friend?" she said. "Hm" I said while turning to look away. After a few seconds, I heard her sigh. "You two are hopeless. Just promise me that you two will make up by the end of this job" she said, looking at me in the eye. "Hm" I replied, neither agreeing or disagreeing just to make her happy. She seemed satisfied enough with my answer because she turned to look at the view.

"Maybe Happy's staying with one of the others" she said to no one in particular while enjoying the view. She looked radiant as she looked out at the view. 'Beautiful' I thought but then immediately shook my head. 'What the hell was I thinking?!' I thought. Lucy noticed me shaking my head and turned to look at me. "You ok Natsu?" she asked, with a bit of concern, and I nodded.

Suddenly there was a knock on the door. Since I was already standing, I walked over to answer the door. As soon as I opened the door, I came face-to-face with a half-naked Ice Stripper. Before he could say anything, I slammed the door in his face. I still haven't one hundred percent recovered from the train ride and I couldn't stand seeing his face for one more minute today. "Who was it?" Lucy asked. "No one" I replied as I walked away from the door and then sat down on the edge of my bed.

A minute later, Happy flew inside through the open balcony door. He looked towards me with a bored expression and then huffed as he whipped his head to look away from me. I tsked and crossed my arms. "Lucy, everyone is waiting for you outside" he said. "Oh really?" Lucy replied as she stood up. She walked over to the door and opened it to a grumpy, now dressed, Gray.

He turned his angered gaze towards me. "Jerk" he said and I growled at him. "Enough you two" Erza said as she pushed her way into our room followed by Gray, Wendy and Carla. I growled at the fact that they've intruded into our room. "We're going to get some dinner at a local restaurant. Are you coming? We'll start looking for the dark guild first thing tomorrow morning" Erza asked. "Great, I'm starving!" Lucy cheered happily. Now that she mentioned it, I'm hungry too. I guess I'll let their intrusion slide for the sake of food.