Dawn of Adventure {Book One of The Paths We've Traveled}

Chapter Seven: Keeping Heading South

The group got a late start the next morning, not wanting to wake Wendy after she had been up most of the night coughing. Even now, they all trudged along wearily, rubbing their eyes as the sun started to reach its peak. Wendy lay in the back of the wagon, fighting against her motion sickness with every bump in the road as each breath rattled deep in her chest, Carla sitting by her head with a paw resting on the girl's shoulder. Erza and Gray rode in front of the wagon, conversing quietly over the creaking of the horse's harness, and Lucy walked by Natsu behind the wagon, holding Happy in her arms as she took in their surroundings.

"It's been over a month," Lucy mused, looking at the mountains far away on the horizon, "and yet we're no closer to finding what we need." Natsu looked over at her, arms behind his head as they walked. She glanced at him before continuing, feeling the need to explain herself. "Well, this country is only so big, and yet we've been wandering for weeks to no avail. I don't know how much more of this Wendy can take, to be honest."

As she kept talking, Natsu frowned, a thought beginning to form in his mind. He stopped walking suddenly, his frown deepening as he wracked his brain. Think, think, think. What is it? I have an idea, now just spit it out!

Lucy stopped too, realizing that he was no longer beside her. She turned towards him, about to ask what the problem was when he shouted, a grin shoving the frown away. Ahead of them, the wagon paused, Erza and Gray turning towards the Dragon Slayer in confusion. At the same time, he looked at Lucy, looking so proud of himself that she had to ask what the hell was going on.

"I just realized something!" The look in Lucy's eyes told him she already knew that, and he quickly revealed what his brain had worked so hard to uncover. She pulled on his arm to get him moving, so by the time he started talking again, they had caught up to the wagon. "Well, you were saying we've kinda just been wandering, and you mentioned Wendy, and I thought... well, Wendy's sickness kinda goes back and forth, right? Like sometimes she's worse, like right now, but then other times it's just the motion sickness that bothers her. I don't know why, but that seemed important for some reason."

Lucy stared at him, a frown creasing her brow as his words swirled around her mind. Gray rolled his eyes, not seeing the importance of what Natsu had just said. "Well now that you've had this revelation, can we get back on the road? I'd rather not be away from home for years." He hadn't admitted it to his friends, but the lack of communication with Juvia and the rest of Fairy Tail was killing him, especially since it had come out of the blue. I hope she's not too worried...

Natsu made a face at Gray, feeling a little put-off that his announcement didn't matter at all. That was until Lucy started nodding, walking towards where Wendy lay in the wagon. Placing a hand on the girl's forehead, she addressed the rest of the group. "No, it makes sense. Listen, we're all being affected by the sickness in this land, but Wendy, you're definitely getting the worst of it." Wendy had pushed herself to her elbows, her bleary eyes taking in her friends before her. She looked at Lucy, confusion evident after missing the first part of the conversation. Lucy rubbed her shoulder, promising to fill her in later with a look. "What if the closer we get to the source of whatever is taking the ethernano from Benos, the sicker Wendy gets? Maybe that's why she starts to get better; we travel far enough away that it doesn't affect her as much until we get near it again. I mean, think about it! None of us are sick, but we all feel a little crappy, right? Like, I've been feeling worse and worse the past couple of days, and I don't think it's just because I'm tired from traveling. I mean, of course it's a big part of it, but that's not the point. Look, what I'm trying to say is that the farther we walk in one direction, the worse we all get. But when we turn and head in a different direction, we start to feel a little better, even if it's still not that good."