Frost

40

Here is one fact you should know about me: I am a PROCRASTINATOR!!!

Gray wanted to go home, but Natsu was hesitant. All of their guild mates in the tunnels were still probably searching for each other—Loke, Gajeel, and Pantherlily looking for Lucy, Happy, Virgo, and some stranger. But he couldn't lie and say he wasn't exhausted. Mirajane offered to take them home, Natsu couldn't just deny it. It wasn't a shocker, though, that Natsu had to ride a train home . . .

"I'll just . . . try to fall asleep or something," Natsu muttered. His eyes were already halfway closed, and after walking around in the tunnels, as well as the town of Margaret, he believed that he would probably be too sleep to be sick on the train ride home. Mira smiled, and Gray only shrugged his shoulders as they climbed aboard. The train ride was supposed to be short, so even if Natsu did get sick it wouldn't last long.

Natsu and Gray in a seat across from Mira. Natsu leaned his head against the window and squeezed his eyes shut, preparing himself for the possible outcome of when the train starts to move. Gray say straight up, staring at Mirajane, who looked down a her hands. She was tapping her fingers on her knuckles, and she looked almost sad.

"What's up, Mira?" Gray asked. He saw her look up slightly, but her eyes fell back down to her hands. "Nothing, I just didn't realize how much I missed you both, that's all."

Natsu's head shot up. He was fine because the train didn't start to move yet. "I've only been gone for a little less than a week. Why did you miss me?" the dragon slayer asked. He leaned his head against the window once he heard the horn from the train.

Mira smiled and said, "You weren't yourself without Gray. I saw how determined you were when it came to finding him. You could only think about Gray, and you were so depressed about it that with everyone my single clue, you got excited about being closer to finding him." Her eyes drifted to Gray. "When you guys were eating at the buffet together, it's like Gray was never gone and you were yourself again. I was pleased to see how happy you were."

Natsu could only stare at her. He didn't realize how much his attitude changed when he was searching for Gray. He thought he was himself the whole time, and acting different around his guild mates made him feel  pretty bad. His expression was blank, and then he looked down at his feet. That was when the train jerked forward, and the dragon slayer instantly covered his mouth. Gray groaned and scooted away from the dragon slayer. Mirajane laughed at them.

"We should have just kept quiet. Now he's gonna puke all the way home," Gray complained when Natsu gagged. He wrapped his arms around his stomach.

"Just . . . just do it already!" he managed to say. Gray already knew the routine, and Natsu was out cold before the train even reached the mile mark. Let's just say that it was a quiet ride home.

•••

There was a woman standing at the end of the tunnel, and it was driving Asa crazy. He didn't want to say anything to Happy and Lucy because he didn't want to scare them, but if she was dangerous then there would be no hope. She wasn't moving, though, which was kind of weird. Happy caught him staring, and the exceed asked, "What's gotten into you?" Asa looked back at Happy, but he didn't want to keep his eyes off of the woman for long.

"Nothing, just looking," Asa replied. Happy didn't say anything. He felt like Happy was a little on edge after something had tried to grab his tail.

Lucy had enough of looking around, and she was leaning up against the wall. She wanted to leave, but Asa was somewhat hesitant. He wasn't the only one who was scared. After being chased through the tunnels, Lucy wanted to be outside more than anything at the moment. But walking back into the tunnels was kind of nerve wracking to her. She had no idea what could possibly be lurking around in there. Who knows what was running after them earlier.

Asa began to move backwards, and the color from his skin began to vanish. Happy noticed the goosebumps on his arms, and that's when he knew that something was coming.

"Asa! What's wrong?"

"There's more of them!" Asa exclaimed. He panicked when his back hit the wall behind them. Lucy didn't know what Asa was seeing with his vision of an owl potion, but "more of them" didn't sound so good.

"Asa? What the hell are you talking about?" Lucy hissed. Her voice was barely a whisper, but it was sharp enough to make both Asa and Happy jump. She couldn't lie and say that Asa's statement didn't make her scared. In fact, she was a little more terrified than when she was in the tunnels a few moments before.

Asa stuttered as he spoke, and he tried to keep his voice at a whisper. "T-there's a group walking to us!"

"A group!?" Happy exclaimed out loud, and he received a series of hushes from both Lucy and Asa, who were both scared out of their minds. Lucy knee what she had to do though. Since Asa wasn't a wizard, she would have to rake care of this on her own. If they were looking for trouble, she would have to fight back. Lucy believed that she would win, and her motivation was that, if she won, she would be able to get out of the tunnels and see daylight. She just needed to keep Asa safe because he knew the tunnels.

"I might have to fight them if they attack," Lucy said. She pulled out her keys, and she tried to compose herself before feeling more confident. Asa stared at the golden keys in shock. He couldn't recall Lucy saying that she was a wizard. He couldn't lie and say that he didn't feel any less scared, but he was worried about the type of magic that Lucy could do. What if she wasn't powerful? What if she was one of the stronger wizards in Magnolia?

When Lucy grabbed one of her keys, that was when Asa saw the pink guild mark on her hand. He felt oblivious and stupid, but at the same time he decided to not make himself feel down. It was on her hand! I could have been in a more obvious location, like her shoulder since she was wearing a tank top! It wasn't his fault he didn't notice.

Lucy grabbed Virgo's key and took in a deep breath. "I'm going to summon her just in case there is any trouble." She called for Virgo, but the spirit did not appear. Happy's mouth dropped as well as Lucy's. Asa was terrified.

"Where's Virgo?" Lucy asked herself.

"Obviously not here!" Happy exclaimed. They were definitely in for trouble. Asa could feel it. Who knows what type of magic the group in the tunnels held. With Lucy not being able to use her keys and Asa only being able to make potions, the trio was definitely in for it.