Hot and Cold

Strange Gang

~*****~

"Just take the damn potion, you idiot." I complain as Natsu dry heaves. Normally, I'd put up with the constant heaving, but he's pressing his face into my lap, still dry heaving.

"This is torture--" Natsu complains. "Come on, make it stop!"

"Hold those guts in for two more hours and then that's it, we're done!" Lucy giggled as I shoved him off of my lap.

"Can he be any more pathetic?" Carla asked with a sigh.

Ballad laughed. "You should see him on trips to the mountains! He gets way worse, cause that's a six hour train ride!"

Natsu complains again, his hands scrabbling against my legs to try and heave himself back into my lap. "It's too long--"

"Maybe you should put another Troia spell on the poor guy," Happy suggested. "With all this sweating, crying, and throwing up, I'm afraid that he's gonna melt away."

"Yeah, you're right," Wendy smiled. She approaches him calmly and presses her hands on his back. "Troia." A faint glow shimmered from her palms and his grabby hands halted for a moment before he began heaving again-- this time he threw up.

"Poor Natsu!" Happy cried. "Eeewww!"

I palmed at my face irritably. "I'm dying..." He whined. "You gotta save me. Please."

"I don't know why it didn't work," Wendy stammered. "I'll try to do it again. Troia!" She says louder.

"I feel so funky--" Natus complains.

"I'll help!" Ballad called. I smile in amusement as both of them start chanting Troia.

I catch Ballad as she slumps from using so much magic energy to help him. "Why won't it fix me?" Natsu complained.

"I don't know!" Wendy cried.

"That's really weird; it normally perks him right up." Lucy hums.

"Not this time," Happy shrugged.

"I'm fairly certain that I know why it failed." Carla mentioned. "This spell has been used on him over and over again on several long journeys. So much so that it's ceased to work at all!"

I shrug. "That's why my potions are getting harder and harder to make. People like us start growing resistance to certain spells and potions if we take them long enough." I pat at Natsu's head. "We're immune to the Troia spell since we've used it so many times."

"That can actually happen?!" Lucy cried.

Carla shrugs. "How did you think I built up my resistance to some spells?" I ask.

"You'll have to grin and beat it." Happy sighed. "Sorry pal, but we'll be there in a couple of hours."

"I'm sorry," Wendy hummed delicately.

"Two more hours?" Natsu complained. "I'm gonna run out of puke!" He then proceeds to throw up, yet again.

"Oh, for goodness sakes. Get over here and I'll distract you. Just stop puking, it's making me sick." I hiss at him.

Natsu groans and drags himself towards me before crawling into my lap, his face buried into my belly. He starts snoring when I scratch at the base of his skull.

~*****~

"You think he's okay out there?" Ballad asks curiously, her gaze peering at the door.

I hum in response. "Should be. If he falls, he should bounce back on his feet and chase the train, so it's not like he'd abandon the job on purpose." Wendy began sniffling again. "Hey, it's not your fault that we're immune to the spell, that's just the way things go sometimes," I say in a comforting manner. "Ballad's not worrying about it, and she's the main reason we're probably immune."