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

Chapter Sixty: Ready, Set, Action!

They were all on their feet in an instant, Lucy's hand on Natsu's arm to keep him steady. The motion sickness medicine worked wonders, but when the train was moving like this, she didn't want to take any chances. Gray still held Happy by his bag, and Erza tipped her head to the side, debating whether or not she should requip her armor now or wait until she knew exactly what they were facing. She decided for the later option, trusting her Heart Kreuz armor to keep her safe for the time being.

"They're at the back of the train," Wendy said, head tilted as she used her senses to determine the situation.

"There's a lot more of them than Laxus said," Natsu grumbled.

"How many?"

"Like thirty." Natsu and Gray locked eyes, matching grins spreading across their faces. "You can handle ten guys, right?"

"You idiot, fifteen is half of thirty."

"Yeah, obviously, but I didn't think you could handle all of them."

"Oh, you wanna go?"

"Natsu!" Lucy complained, yanking on his arm in an attempt to distract him and bring him back to the matter at hand.

"Seems like we lost our chance to plan," Carla muttered. Wendy laughed and linked arms with her best friend.

"It never would have worked out like we wanted it to anyway. Come on, if we stick together, we'll be fine. Thirty opponents isn't that much for the seven of us."

Happy cheered, wiggling out of Gray's grip to do a flip in the air. "Aye, sir!"

"I'm all fired up now." Natsu cracked his knuckles as Gray rolled his neck, his own answering smirk cutting through his features.

"We're just rushing straight in, aren't we?" Lucy bemoaned. She was unable to hide her own excitement, however, as her fingers closed around her key ring on one side and her whip on the other.

"It's never failed us before." Ferocity blossomed in Erza's face and she looked around the train car, meeting the eyes of several of the other passengers. Some cowered from her gaze, but some responded with hope.

"Excuse me." The attention of all seven wizards turned downward to find a little boy clinging to the arm of his mother. She smiled at them even as she pulled her son tighter. "Are you the bad guys?"

"I'm sorry," the mother cut in, aghast at her son's words. Then she flushed. "I know you're actually good, we all do. But our farm was attacked last week, and that was the first time he saw you and Fairy Tail, well, what we thought was your team. Oh, please, tell me you're here to stop them. Nowhere's safe with that dark guild around."

Gray knelt down in front of her so that he was at eye-level with the boy. He hid himself against his mother's arm, his eyes still barely visible. Gray smiled, hands moving as magic formed and flowed. He looked up at the mother. "We're gonna take them out, don't worry. And no, we're not the bad guys. The bad guys are pretending to be us."

"They're scary."

"Trust me, I've seen scarier." Gray winked as he held up his hands, revealing a small play sword made of gleaming ice. "Here. With this, no one's gonna mess with you. You gotta keep your mom safe, right?"

The boy took the sword with big eyes, surprised when the fake weapon was light and not at all cold. The mother smiled, surprise radiated from her expression. "Uh, thank you." She shook her head, forcing the shock from her thoughts. She recognized the sword for the toy it was, and she desperately hoped that this would keep the nightmares away. "Thank you," she repeated. "And thank you for coming to help us."