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Wheels of Fire	By : Rhov Category: +. to F > Fairy Tail Views: 22718 -:- 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
- 21
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Chapter 22
Worries from Friends
When Lucy and Edo-Natsu entered the guild hall, the last thing they expected was an uproar.
"Where were you?" half a dozen people instantly shouted, startling both of them back a step.
"Lu-chan, we were so worried."
The blonde blinked in surprise at the tears in her best friend's eyes. "Levy?"
Then a cold hand thumped on her shoulder, and blue-gray eyes peered way too closely into her face. "Are you safe? Are you hurt? Were you attacked?"
"What? N-No! And Gray, if you're going to get this close, put some clothes on."
Erza stomped forward. "Who kidnapped you?"
Lucy shouted in frustration. "No one kidnapped me. I was never in trouble. Sheesh, can't a girl go on a little roadtrip without the whole world going crazy?"
"Roadtrip?" Gray asked, and he glared at the timid pink-haired boy now cowering behind Lucy's shoulder.
"We didn't know you were leaving," Levy said, sniffling in relief. "I went over to your house, and it was empty. No one knew anything, not even your landlady. There was no note that you had gone, or when you'd be back. The train station had no record of you leaving, and Mira said you hadn't taken a mission. We had no clue what happened to you."
Erza nodded sternly. "If it had just been you, it would be no problem, but Fireball was missing too. We got worried, since we need to keep him safe. Where did you two go?"
"Well, I…" Lucy glanced back to Edo-Natsu, who shivered against her. His huge eyes gazed up into her face, and both blushed slightly. "I didn't plan to be gone all night," she muttered. "It was supposed to just be for a few hours, but … well … we lost track of time. I'm really sorry."
Gray glared suspiciously between Lucy and Edo-Natsu. As the worries faded and Lucy began telling everyone about the car their Edolas driver had built, Gray heard from her story many details, and many things left unsaid. He also noticed that although the skittish boy clung to Lucy like normal, there was something more to the way he touched her.
"You built a car?" Macao cried out.
Elfman beamed. "Cars are manly!"
"Show us!" many of the men shouted eagerly.
Edo-Natsu shrank under their boisterous enthusiasm. "P-Princess?" he squeaked.
Lucy patted his thigh … a little too high up for Gray's taste. "It's fine, they're just amazed that you really are good with automobiles. I'll come with you. Erza, you drive, right? You should see this. Levy-chan?"
"No thanks," she waved off, making a sour face. "I don't understand machines at all."
Edo-Natsu laughed lightly. "That's totally opposite to my Levy."
Lucy and Edo-Natsu led quite a crowd out to where they parked in front of the Fairy Tail guild hall. Gray was admittedly curious since he liked driving cars and motorcycles, but he took the emptiness to come up to Levy.
"Did you notice about the two of them?"
She looked up from a thick book in a foreign language. "Notice what?"
"The way they look at each other now."
Levy smiled mischievously. "Oh Gray, don't tell me you're jealous." She glanced over his shoulder. "Juvia's glaring and muttered some evil curse about love rivals."
He shrugged nonchalantly. "I don't care. I'm not jealous, either. I'm worried about Lucy. Edo-Natsu is annoying, but he's a likable guy. I think Lucy is in love with him, and it's definitely mutual. This weekend trip … there's something she's not telling us. For one, why were they gone all night? Where did they stay? Why the hell is Lucy limping?"
Levy finally understood what he was implying. "You think Lucy and … and Natsu Dragion … the two of them…" Her cheeks went bright pink.
Behind a column, Juvia was practically frothing at the mouth as she muttered to herself. "Why is Levy blushing to Gray-sama? Is she flirting with Gray-sama? Love rival … love rival…"
Gray did not want to accuse Lucy of anything lewd. "I'm just guessing here, as a guy. Lucy's a hot girl…"
"Love rival!"
"…and any sane man would want a piece of that ass."
"Rrrrrrgh … love rival!"
Levy smirked. "Oh really, Gray? Yet I haven't seen you trying to flirt with her."
"I wouldn't hit on Lucy. She's my teammate. It'd be too awkward."
The demonic glow in Juvia's eyes shattered. "Huh? Not a love rival?"
"Besides," continued Gray, "although I know he's too much of an idiot to realize it, I think Natsu has a thing for Lucy. When he gets back, if she's hooked up with Wheel-brain, things are gonna get ugly."
For a long time now, Levy had her suspicions about Lucy and Natsu. Gray had a point. Both were too innocent—or in Natsu's case, too dense—to realize what others saw as obvious. "I heard Mira say that for Natsu to come back, Edo-Natsu has to leave."
"I heard that too," Gray muttered, pouting that the Edolas boy he had come to like would have to go just to bring back the fire-breathing bastard who annoyed him. Life was so unfair! "Lucy needs to come to realize that Edo-Natsu won't be around forever. If she falls in love, and he has to leave … she's my teammate and my friend. I don't want her heartbroken. She wouldn't talk about this sort of thing with me, but girls talk to their best friends about boys, right? Try talking to her."
Just then, the group came back inside, noisy as they exclaimed about the car that ran on lacrima fuel rather than a wizard's own magic. Edo-Natsu walked stiffly, laughing nervously in the middle of a circle of men who wanted to know more details about the magical conversion of fuel to power. Lucy laughed at how utterly traumatized the socially awkward boy looked, suddenly finding himself as the center of attention. She escaped quickly to sit with Levy.
"Boys and their toys," she whispered with a giggle. "He doesn't show it when he's like this, but he's immensely proud of that car. Sheesh, you should have seen him yesterday. He was crazy, insane, a total beast! But … sweet too," she ended softly with a rosy blush.
"Lu-chan, um…" Levy looked around. Being in the midst of a noisy drinking hall was the worst place for a girl's discussion about boys. "Can we get together later?"
"Sure. What's up?"
"I just want to talk to you about…"
Suddenly, a pink comet flew past her. Lucy knew that particular blurry scene. She had seen Natsu flung across the room plenty of times during brawls.
"Ouch-ch-ch-ch!" the Edolas boy cringed as he rubbed out where he collided into a wall.
"Fireball!" Lucy looked back to the crowd and angrily demanded, "Who did that?"
Then she saw Romeo with purple flames around his fist and tears of fury lining his eyes. "How dare you say that?" the boy roared in outrage.
"Oh God, I turn my back for one minute…" Lucy ran over to where Fireball was trying, with much difficulty, to pull himself up. "What happened?"
"I … I didn't … mean anything … bad." Slowly, Edo-Natsu pulled himself up. "Wendy asked if she could ride. It was noisy, I thought she said drive. I told her she has to grow up and fill out a bit before I can let her. I … I…" He held onto Lucy's arm for support as he pulled himself up onto his feet. With her besides him, suddenly the driver's fierceness was back into his eyes. "Goddammit, Romeo, I didn't mean her fucking tits!"
The whole guild fell silent at the unexpected outburst. Edo-Natsu jolted back, even more stunned that he had transformed into the driver without a car.
"I … I mean … s-sorry," he whispered, trembling in terror.
"What else could you have possibly meant?" Romeo bellowed.
Macao began to step forward to his son. "Take it easy."
"Wendy's in tears," Romeo screamed in outrage, pointing to the little girl.
Wendy wiped her eyes. "It's okay, Romeo. I just took it the wrong way. Plus, I know I'm not very big, and Edolas-Me is rather … umm … grown up and … and mature … and she has really big…"
"I don't care about your chest size," Romeo declared loudly. "Neither should anyone else. Only perverts think about that. You're beautiful and perfect, just how you are, and nobody should—"
Wendy gasped softly. "You think I'm beautiful?"
The rage in Romeo's face snuffed out as fast as a candle flame in a windstorm. "You … well … I think … you're very … umm…" He blushed, realizing he had just basically admitted to everyone in the guild, including Wendy, that he had a crush on her.
"Romeo," she whispered. "You … do you … maybe…"
The thirteen-year-old panicked when he saw the downcast eyes. "Please, Wendy. Please don't be upset. Don't be mad at me."
"No, I'm not, I … I just…" Her face went crimson as tears came to her eyes. "You … really…"
Romeo misunderstood the face she was making. He swirled back to Edo-Natsu. "See, idiot! You made her cry!" Then, ashamed and embarrassed, Romeo ran out of the guild.
"Ah!" Wendy cried out in shock. "Romeo!"
"Sheesh, such awkward kids," Lucy sighed, although she thought the two youngsters were incredibly cute. "I'll go after the hot-head. I'm used to dealing with his sort. Fireball, straighten things up with Wendy, and don't say anything stupid." Then she leaned into his ear. "I'll see you at home later, hot stuff. Don't keep me waiting," she purred, which made his face turn as bright as his pink hair.
Lucy left, and Edo-Natsu decided to take Wendy on that drive she wanted, just to cheer her up, and maybe to talk with her. He had been pretty good friends with the Wendy back home. Maybe a little more than friends from time to time. The devious woman really could capture men in her webs of seduction! But this Wendy was cute, small, and innocent. She reminded Edo-Natsu more of himself, timid and lacking confidence in her own abilities.
They left for a brief drive down to the candy store and back, and Levy watched with a worried gaze.
"I hope you're not doing anything stupid, Lu-chan."
Later that day, Levy went over to Lucy's apartment. She knocked on the door and heard clattering inside. Worried, she put her ear to the door.
"Crap, I forgot Levy wanted to come over."
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I just…"
"Quiet. Just … run to the bedroom. Hurry. Wait, take your clothes with you. Crap, where's my skirt?"
After a full minute, Lucy breathlessly swung the door open. Levy swallowed hard. Even if she had not overheard their words, it was only obvious that Lucy had been in the midst of something steamy. Her hair was tussled in a sexy way with a vain attempt to straighten it down, she had missed a button while snapping up her blouse, and with those huge breasts, it was far too obvious that she was not wearing a bra. That was lying on the nightstand, and Edo-Natsu's flame-print boxers were wrinkled up on the floor.
Gray was right. This cute crush she and Cana had teased Lucy about was now out of control.
"I'm … sorry. I interrupted you."
Lucy looked in a panic. "Levy-chan, you see, it's like this…"
"You don't have to explain. It's pretty obvious. I mean, his underwear is over there."
"Crap," Lucy whispered, glancing back at the clothes still left out. "Hey, if you still want to go out together, we can. Just … you know, give me a couple minutes."
"No, you two … I mean … you're … busy." Levy twisted her toe into the wooden threshold as her cheeks inflamed. "Be honest. Are you in love?"
Lucy's flushed smile and glittering eyes said it all. "Yeah. Heh! Crazy, right? But … yeah. Yesterday's drive was a date, and not our first. We've been dating in secret for a while now, and we … um … you know … last night. That's why I was out until morning."
"Then you two … you … d-did it?" Levy squeaked out, covering her mouth before she squealed.
Lucy turned her scarlet cheeks away, but she silently nodded to answer.
Levy looked at her in both happiness and pity. "You really love him then, don't you?"
Again, Lucy could only nod. Her throat had nearly choked closed with too many emotions.
"I see. Well, I won't bother you. I hope you're being … safe."
"Oh, yes, definitely," Lucy assured. "He's a real gentleman, Levy-chan, and he's taking responsibility for … for … that stuff."
"Okay, good. Well, maybe tomorrow we'll go out. You probably could use some girl time."
Lucy laughed with a nervous shiver in her voice. "Yeah, it's been a crazy weekend. Hell, a crazy month!"
"I bet. Take care, Lu-chan."
Levy left, and on the whole trip from Strawberry Street to the Fairy Tail guild hall, her cheeks were solidly red. She needed to tell someone. Cana was drunk, Lisanna was not around, Juvia was off stalking Gray, Erza was not around anymore, so she went up to the white-haired bartender.
"Mira, you know how we've talked about what happens if Lucy and Edo-Natsu fall in love?"
"Sure," she said with a twinkle in her blue eyes.
"It … happened," Levy confessed in a guilty whisper, hating herself for ratting out her best friend. "I went over to her place just now. They're … close. Really close."
Mira's jaw dropped. At the same time, Makarov walked over.
"Is this true, Levy-chan?" he asked with a stern look in his ancient eyes.
Levy shrank down, feeling so terrible about tattling on Lucy, but she knew this was something that was a worry for the core members of Fairy Tail.
Makarov sighed. "It's as we feared."
"She looks so happy, though," Mira tried to protest.
He wearily shook his head. "I'm sure she's a typical teenage girl, wildly in love, but the fact remains that we don't know if Edo-Natsu can stay. He might say he wants to now, but he's a member of Fairy Tail. He won't want to leave his guild so easily. There is still a week before we can call King Jellal. Even then, there's no guarantee that they've found Natsu and the other Fairy Tail. The longer this drags on, the harder it will be for Edo-Natsu to leave Earthland."
"Master," Levy piped in, "if he wants to stay, can't we keep him here somehow?"
"That's the issue. Him staying or going is not up to me, but up to Edolas, what they are capable of doing. I can send a person from this dimension to theirs, but the reverse is impossible with Edolas' lack of magic and their current level of technology. All we know is that they can switch two identical people from one dimension to the other. That might be their limit. So far, they don't have the means to simply transport Natsu Dragneel back here. We have to work with what they can do."
"It's just…" Levy dropped her head. "It'd be a pity to separate them. Lucy finally found someone she loves."
Makarov patted her on the shoulder. "You're a good friend. Lucy-chan needs someone like you. For her sake, I hope we can give them more time together. Let's keep an eye on them, but don't get in the way. If we try to break them up, it'll only make them stronger. They're both members of Fairy Tail, and that's how we are. In the meantime, I'll look into a few things. If there is any way to bring Natsu home without sending Edo-Natsu back, we'll try it. If it's impossible, we'll need to be ready to comfort Lucy when the time comes."
"It's so sad," Levy muttered.
Mira had a sympathetic smile. "But as you said: she's so happy. Let's cheer her on while keeping her one foot in reality, okay?"
Levy nodded in agreement. "Hey Mira, are you up for a girls-night-out tomorrow? Lu-chan needs to get away from the boy and spill the beans, and you're the best at getting people to talk."
Mira squealed. "Ooh, I know just the place, a really cute café."
Makarov laughed and walked away. "Crazy brats!"
End of Chapter 22
A/N: I can hardly believe that "Wheels of Fire" is one year old today. It's also the one-year anniversary of "Lion's Pride" being finished. The day I posted the last chapter of that behemoth, I posted the first chapter of this story. I sort of rushed this chapter to get it done by today. At 2AM I realize it was the anniversary of the fanfic, and by 7AM I had stayed up all night to write this out, just so I could update it on the anniversary. I'm weird like that.
I credit the scene with Romeo and Wendy to Ryujin65, who really wanted to see a little bit of RoWen in this story and requested this particular scene. There might be more hints about those two. They're adorable. ^_^
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