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Wheels of Fire	By : Rhov Category: +. to F > Fairy Tail Views: 22712 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 2
Disclaimer: Fairy Tail is the property of Hiro Mashima. I make no money, I just do this for my own pleasure.

Chapter List
- 9
- 10
- 11
Chapter 10
Money Troubles and Love Troubles
Lucy sat at her desk and chewed on the tip of a pencil. She occasionally gave soft growls and mutters of "No, no, it's all wrong here," followed by erasing and writing something else.
Fireball Natsu entered from the kitchen cheerfully carrying a tray. "Snacks, Princess," he called out happily.
"Yeah, yeah," the blonde muttered, not even looking up as she waved for him to set down the coffee and biscotti.
He placed the tray on a table and poured her a cup. As he sat the coffee cup and saucer beside her, he looked over her shoulder and down at the paper that was making her brow crease so tightly. "Trouble with your novel? M-may-…Maybe I can help. My dad Igneel taught me how to read, and although I've never written anything as awesome as a book, maybe … you know … I could … inspire you?" He offered his help so timidly with a doubtful look on his face, yet he looked eager to help in any way to repay her for housing him.
Lucy still hunched over the thing she was writing. "Not unless you're good in calculating inflation of the Jewel in Fiore and the going rate of fish at the local docks."
"Ah … um … no," he blushed. "A book on finances?"
She pointed out what she was actually working on, a spreadsheet of expenses and income. "Master Makarov agreed to pay my rent, but I really don't have money for food since I have to feed you too."
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Fireball cried, dropping to his knees and covering his head. "I'll stop eating. I don't have to eat."
"Don't be an idiot," she sighed. "Still, I'm truly out of money. That previous job with Natsu led to a lot of destruction, and I didn't get the full reward since we had to pay for damages. So I have a lot less in the bank than I had counted on. Even if you weren't staying with me, I would have had to take a few small jobs just to pay for food."
"I'm sorry," he whined.
Lucy glanced over and saw him curled on the floor covering his head as if he was expecting to be smacked. "I'm not going to hit you," she assured. "Get up."
Slowly, Fireball uncurled from his position and rose back to his feet, twitching as he prepared for a blow that never came.
"Honestly," Lucy said in a grumbling tone and a pout that showed reluctance to admit this, "my food bill is a lot less with that fire-breathing oaf gone. He and Happy used to sneak in here and eat up all my food, and those two can really stuff themselves with no consideration that food costs money."
"Oh," Fireball whispered, looking aside as he tried to decide if Lucy meant that she missed such crazy antics, or if she preferred his own modest way of preparing meals for both of them.
"Still, I have no more money. I've calculated it a dozen different ways, but even without needing rent money, I'll be completely broke by next week. I could ask Erza for a little bit, but her rent is outrageously high. I'd hate to borrow from the guild funds when they're already paying my rent." She gave a humming growl and chewed on her pencil more as she glared at the numbers in her ledger. "I guess I could pawn off some things and then just buy them back when Natsu gets home and we can go on missions again."
Edo-Natsu felt immensely guilty. She was stuck at home because of him. "How … how long would it take?"
"An hour tops, just walk down to the pawn shop and—"
"No, I mean … I mean to … to do a mission?"
She glanced up at him in surprise, but the boy could not meet her gaze. That was when Lucy saw how much guilt was wracked over his blushing face.
"A day or two, depending on the job. However, I'm supposed to watch over you. Even with the simple jobs, it might be unsafe to take you along, and we need you to be safe if we want to switch back you and my Natsu."
Fireball nodded reluctantly. He had to remind himself, that was the whole reason Lucy was taking such good care of him: she wanted her Natsu to return. She wanted him back, reunite their team, go on missions, hang out and have fun. She did not care about him; she only needed him to get back Salamander.
"You know, I … I've adjusted well," he mumbled, scratching his pink hair awkwardly. "I know how to work all the appliances in your house. There aren't many magical items here, besides your private stuff, and I don't touch those things. I could … well, maybe … just stay home," he eked out. "You … you should go. You shouldn't hold yourself back just because of me, and … and I'll watch over the house while you're gone." He forced a smile, although his hands shook. "Just think of me as a house-sitter."
Lucy smiled plaintively at his bravery. When Fireball first arrived, he was nearly too scared to look at her, let alone tell her what to do. She saw how he had grown bolder by living in Magnolia.
"I just might take you up on that offer," she decided. "How about after our snack, we go to the guild and I'll look for a job? I'm sure you'd like to talk to Lisanna more, anyway."
"Huh? Oh," he said, and Fireball shrugged a little. "I only sort of knew her in Edolas, not really well. She stood up for me against Lucy a few times, but we weren't close friends or anything."
"I see. Still, you two do have something in common. You were both residents of Edolas, if only for a few years."
"Yeah, I … I guess," he mumbled.
"Well then, while I'm gone you can call on her if you need help. She's a nice girl, and everyone knows she used to have a huge crush on Natsu."
"Lisanna did?" he asked in surprise as they began to eat the biscotti and coffee he had prepared.
"Sure, they were practically engaged."
Edo-Natsu looked completely stunned by the news. "Then why … w-why didn't she act that way around me in Edolas? She never once acted like she liked me."
"Easy. Salamander is Salamander and Fireball is Fireball. Just because you two look alike, you are nothing at all similar in personality," she chuckled and bit into her biscotti. "It's pretty cheap, if you think about it," she said with her mouth full, "to transfer your feelings for someone onto another person just because they look alike."
Edo-Natsu suddenly stood up. "I … I have to … to go." With his eyes closed, he rushed off to Lucy's bathroom and slammed the door shut.
She looked back in confusion. "Did the coffee hit him that fast?" She shrugged and sipped some more, humming in delight. "I think his coffee might actually beat Mira's."
In the bathroom, Edo-Natsu stood by the sink with his face covered, running the faucet to mask over sniffles. His shoulders shook, and he bit his lips hard to hold back the sound of sobs.
"You're an idiot, Natsu," he whispered to himself through a convulsing, clenched chest. "Of course she doesn't like me. Salamander is Salamander, and he's the one she likes. He's her Natsu. I'm nothing more than a freeloader, some stranger who crashed into her life, eats up her food … someone she has to watch over to get her Salamander back. There's no way she'd…" He slowly peeked through his hands and up to the mirror. He saw the pink tint to his eyes and a faint reflection of moistness on his cheeks. "Why the hell are you crying over Princess?" he asked himself bitterly. "Do you think you're in love or something? That's just dumb!" He sighed and dropped his head pathetically. "Yeah … real dumb. You're a real idiot, Natsu."
In the guild hall, Makarov had called a meeting of Levy and Freed to discuss the situation of the two Natsus.
"Any luck in figuring out how to switch them back?" the guild master asked.
"I'm not a hundred percent sure," Levy began, "but I think Edo-Gajeel was on to something. Since my Edolas version powered her transporter at the exact same time that Natsu was starting a huge attack, his magic, the runes the enemy was using, and the Edolas invention all worked together to create the switching of bodies. We would need to find that dark wizard, find out what runes he used, copy them, and then create magic of similar magnitude to smash against those runes at the same time that Edolas fires up their wormhole device and aims it at Natsu."
"The problem is," Freed pointed out, "this is impossible. In theory, Edo-Natsu must be at the nexus point of the magic for the bodies to switch, yet he can't use magic. If Levy is right, the magic must be Dragon Slayer magic, and not just any normal breath attack, but one of their secret arts magic attacks. If Natsu Dragion got hit with something like that, it would severely maim him, possibly even kill him, before it had a chance to force him back to Edolas."
"That is not an option," Makarov said sternly.
Mira came up with a tray of drinks for all of them. "Does it really have to be Dragon Slayer magic?"
"We don't know for sure," Levy admitted. "With any luck, we'd merely need a really powerful spell, something strong enough to act as a beacon to cut through the dimensions. However, anyone who uses magic outside of those runes may be caught up in the vortex."
Freed explained, "Lucy and the dark wizard were protected by the runes, which shattered after the wormhole closed, likely breaking due to the force of the closure rather than Natsu's attack itself, since by the time the barrier broke, it was Fireball hitting the barrier, not Salamander. Fireball said his knuckles hurt, so it was his fist that collided, and a normal human's hand couldn't have defeated magical runes like that. So we don't need anyone inside the runes. We only need them as a barrier to the magic, a way to stall it, contain it, keep it from dispersing too quickly. It very well may be that the runes and Natsu's attack synchronized somehow. If that's so, then Dragon Slayer magic might be the key, and that's troublesome. If not, if simply a high-level magical burst is needed, then there's still the problem of any wizard who creates that burst faces a strong chance of being sucked into Edolas as well."
"There's one chance," Levy suddenly realized, which surprised all of them. "Lucy's Celestial Spirits can vanish back to the Spirit World."
Freed shook his head. "Closing a celestial gate usually involves an agreement between both Spirit and Owner. Lucy can force-close gates, but we don't know if that would affect a Spirit suddenly sucked into another dimension. The stronger Spirits should be able to shut their own gates, but there's a minuscule chance that the Spirit might wind up trapped in Edolas with no ability to return home. If that were to happen…" His words drifted off in worry.
Makarov understood perfectly. "It's a death sentence to a Celestial Spirit."
"Loke," Mira said cheerfully. "Even if he does get trapped, he can survive at least three years."
"That was three years in a magic-enriched environment," Freed warned. "It might be less in Edolas. We simply don't know. However, I concur with Mira. Loke is the most powerful Zodiac Celestial Spirit. If anyone can come close to the devastating magical power of a Dragon Slayer, it would be Leo the Lion."
Makarov hummed at all this news, stroked his mustache, and took a long drink. "We'll ask Lucy to call out Loke and ask if he agrees to help. I won't force him to make a potential sacrifice like this. I'll send Gajeel to fetch the dark wizard who cast the runes so we know precisely how to recreate the same situation as before."
"We should hurry, though," Levy warned.
Makarov arched an eyebrow. "Why? Is there a time limit for this to work?"
"I don't think so," she said hesitantly, "but … well, Lucy seems to be falling for Edo-Natsu, and he definitely has romantic feelings for her. It's pretty obvious."
"I see," Makarov muttered. "That definitely poses a problem. Since it's Lucy's Celestial Spirits who must be used for this to work, it would be troublesome if she wasn't one hundred percent in agreement with sending Edo-Natsu away. Plus if a similar romantic situation is happening in Edolas, Natsu might not want to return at all."
Levy sputtered out her drink and quickly covered her mouth with a napkin. "Natsu? Falling in love?"
"It does seem unlike him," Mira had to admit, tittering softly.
"More like impossible," Levy exclaimed between laughs. "I don't think that guy has reached the point of noticing girls at all."
Freed solemnly said, "You'd be surprised what can be attractive to a person."
"Indeed," Makarov said sagely. "If we and our Edolas counterparts are opposites, and Lucy finds Edo-Natsu to be attractive, it's highly possible that Edolas' Lucy might find Natsu to be desirous too. Whether he reciprocates is impossible to guess."
"Not a chance," Levy giggled.
"However," Makarov warned, "it's up to Mystogan … King Jellal … to find Natsu. We'll do our part here to prepare. Get to work on it."
"Understood," they all said with a nod.
Mira drifted back to the bar to wash more glasses. Only a few minutes later, Lucy and Edo-Natsu entered the guild hall.
"Fireball!" came a low roar of greetings.
Mira chuckled to herself. "My, he's getting popular around here."
The pink-haired teen blushed at all the greetings. His guild used to cheer for him in the same way whenever he returned from one of his long drives. He went off to talk to Lisanna while Lucy came up to the bartender.
"Hey, Mira. Any easy jobs?" she whispered.
Mira tilted her head in question. "I thought you were off from missions."
"Yeah, but I'm out of food money. Just something short and simple; the reward doesn't have to be much."
Mira smiled in understanding. She knelt under the bar and rose again with a piece of paper. "I was saving it for Romeo, but he got in trouble at school and is grounded from doing missions for a week."
Lucy read through the flier and grimaced. "Yeah, definitely something a child could do, although some of the demands are … weird. Still, the reward will feed me and Fireball for a month."
Mira gave her a sly smile. "Do you think he'll be around that long?"
"Who knows?" Lucy mumbled, reading the details of the mission. "It seems like Edolas' Fairy Tail is on the run. Could be only days before Knightwalker catches them, could be weeks. They managed to run away from her for years before King Faust was dethroned."
"True. What do you think about that?"
"About what?" Lucy mumbled, squinting as she read the small print. "What's this about leopard print boots? Who the heck demands that?"
"About Natsu being gone for months or years. Are you okay with that?"
Lucy nearly dropped the paper. Her face contorted in sadness, and her eyes drifted away. She saw the table where their group often sat. She saw the seat where Mira had hinted that maybe Natsu liked her, and she recalled how self-conscious that made her for days. One of the hall pillars still had scorch marks from one of Natsu and Gray's fights. Regardless of his destructive ways, Fairy Tail could never be the same without Natsu. He was such an intricate part of the guild, and such an important element in her life.
To live for years without Natsu Dragneel around was utterly unthinkable!
"What is there to question?" Lucy replied sadly, her gaze wistfully glancing around at the wood beams of the ceiling, the proud banners, the lights, the tables, the drinks, and the cliques of wizards. "I want Natsu back, of course. He's loud and destructive and annoying, but the guild is too quiet without him."
"Would you be okay to watch over Fireball for weeks, maybe even months? I'm sure it's already getting annoying, having him around all the time."
Lucy blushed faintly. "You know, that guy is really capable. You wouldn't guess it when you first see him. I wouldn't mind a roommate like that. Still, if it's going to be long-term, he's smart enough to manage on his own. He might do really well living in Magnolia. Who knows? Maybe he'll want to stay. Having two Natsus around couldn't be that bad, right?" Then her face firmed stubbornly and she tapped the request sheet hard. "Sign me up for this one. I can do it and be back in a day."
Mira confirmed the mission and decided not to tell Lucy that in order to get back Natsu, Fireball would have to leave back to Edolas.
End of Chapter 10
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Wheels of Fire