Once Upon a Fairy Tail {A Fairy Tail Fanfiction}

Chapter Seven: Sinbad The Sailor Part II

Lucy's clammy fingers clenched on the elaborate handle of the eighth key, Sagittarius, as she managed a victorious smile.

Sure, the temperature was torrid despite being well past noon, and sure, Natsu's presence only made the heat worse, but it was a triumph nonetheless! The blonde felt her lips part in a laugh as Natsu crowed his mirth.

The moment was broken quickly when Natsu became aware that her shoes had somehow caught on fire, and pounced at her feet; she screeched when he attempted to eat her shoes.

After several moments of flailing, awkward disentangling of limbs (and Lucy's face was so hot that the heat of the day had nothing on her), and some squeaks whenever Natsu so much as tried to lick her shoes, they managed to leave the forest clearing they had stumbled across.

Natsu ran ahead as soon as the fire was extinguished, happily babbling about the food he would catch when they met up with the rest of their crewmates and debating on whether or not he would take a nap. Lucy trailed after him, absently fingering the keys they had collected so far.

Natsu had immediately attacked Sagittarius the moment they encountered him, only to have Sagittarius surrender himself with no qualms. Lucy felt as if they still hadn't gotten to the hard part yet. Sure, Aquarius had mentioned that the keys themselves weren't a part of escaping the chapter, but that was the only plot point that had presented itself to them so far, and otherwise, the two were out of possibilities for escaping the Sinbad chapter.

And Natsu, well... since her sudden eureka moment, she hadn't had a chance to be alone with him without Wendy fawning over his motion sickness (and who cared if it was out of sisterly affection?), Erza inquiring about various battle strategies (it was still hard to digest that Natsu was on par with Erza in this world), Lisanna chatting him up (which she refused to take lightly), Mirajane trying to kick her ass ( Lucy was starting to understand Mirajane's old nickname of 'Demon'), or...

...or Lucy herself chickening out at the last second, unable to form words what with her thoughts being so jumbled.

She looked up at Natsu as the sea came into view. He was wearing his regular, tattered clothes proudly (which, oddly enough, fit extremely well as pirate attire) as he turned, beckoning at her to hurry up.

"What's taking you so long, Lucy?" He pursed his lips and snickered when she sent him an irritated glance. "Let's get back to the ship already! We have to head out, or we won't be able to reach the next island before tomorrow morning!"

"Since when were you actually eager to get on a ship?" Lucy sighed, and Natsu considered her words before shrugging.

"Wendy is sure helpful no matter the universe," he said as they stepped onto the sand. He said her name gratefully, almost reverently- no. The blonde shook her head at her own reaction. There was no way that Natsu of all people would be attracted to anyone, much less have her on his mind like she had Natsu on her mind...

That thought alone was enough to depress her as they clambered up the ship and found themselves surrounded by the rowdy members of Natsu's- Sinbad's- crew.

"Party?" Natsu beamed, no doubt eager to bring the ship down in flames. Lisanna, who was unfurling the sails, rolled her eyes.

"As long as you minimize the damage, Sinbad," she shrugged, and gave him a blinding smile (that immediately had Lucy gritting her teeth). "We're just celebrating getting so many of the treasures in a week after searching for them for so long."

"Lucy's my good luck charm," the flame mage winked, and Lisanna sent Lucy a coy smile that had her flushing from head to toe. The white-haired girl laughed when Lucy ducked out from under Natsu's arm as he attempted to sling it casually over her shoulders.