Hot and Cold

Erigor's End

~*****~

I taste the bitter motion sickness potion slip past my lips, and I lurch forward, gazing at the train tracks below the car. "Are you up?!" Erza shouts at me. "Natsu may need your help when we arrive--"

"I'm up--" I shout back and adjust the cuff higher on my arm. "Wait," I groan. "Aw, c'mon!" I shout loudly as we pull to a stop.

"Hey, you guys just missed seeing me beat Erigor!" Natsu chirped happily.

"Aye!" Happy agrees.

"Yeah, and I missed the damn fun!" I shout back at him before ripping off the cuff.

"I'm proud of you." Erza hums softly. I stumble off of the cart and offer a hand to Erza. "Thank you for your help today."

"You're the one hanging on a thread, I just loafed around the entire time." I comment dryly. "Man, I can't believe you didn't leave any of the fight for me."

Natsu laughs as I cross my arms over my chest. "There's always next time!" He mentions as he punches my shoulder.

"I just can't believe he had such a hard time with this guy." Gray hums.

"I never said that! I took care of him, didn't I?" Natsu snapped back.

"I was kinda worried for a while there," Happy hums.

Gray sighs. "Whatever. You look pretty stupid wearing a scarf when you're half naked." Gray comments.

"Like you have room to talk." Natsu retorts. He turns to me. "Hey, Aria, gimme your jacket."

"It's a bit small for you, my guy, but go for it." I laugh as I shrug it off. Natsu shunts on the smaller jacket and his arms need to stay upright as he glares at Gray.

Erza just chuckles. "Anyway, well done, Natsu. Thanks to you, all the Guild Masters will be safe now."

"Yeah, good job, buddy!" I chirp as I reach up to ruffle his hair. I immediately turn to Erza. "You think we could drop by the Guild Masters' conference? Y'know to tell them what happened and ask how we should properly dispose of the Lullaby Flute? I'm all for turning it into a block of ice, but that might expel from magic from it."

"Good thinking," Erza nods.

"Might as well since we're so close to Clover!" Happy chirps.

My throat hitches as I feel the hairs on my neck stand on end. I hit the rails quicker than I anticipated and hiss out in irritation as the metal scrapes into my hands and bared torso. "Kage!" Erza shouts. The Magic Mobile is soaring over head with Kage's shadow magic, the flute dangling precariously from one of the fists.

"What do you think you're doing?" Gray shouts.

"Lullaby's mine now!" Kage shouts as he soars. "Shouldn't have let your guard down, Flies!" He laughs wildly as he flies down the tracks, leaving us in one spot.

"That jerk!" Natsu shouts, his arms slamming down and ripping my jacket sleeves off.

"This is how he pays us back for saving his life?!" Lucy cried.

"After him!" Erza shouts.

~*****~

It seems we would've made it just in time, but before we could warn the Makarov, the Guild Master of the Blue Pegasus appeared and stopped us. "Oh, hey, Bob." I hum politely.

"Aria, you simply must join me for a drink later, we have so much to catch up on!" Bob chirped affectionately as he grasps my hands. "Honestly, I was heartbroken when I'd heard you quit the Blue Pegasus!"