The Fate of the Four Elements

Chapter Twelve: Welcome Back

Rini's POV

Since we set out rather early in the morning, we would hopefully arrive by the evening. That is, if we caught the train.
"C'mon Natsu! We're going whether you like it or not!" I said, dragging him by his hair behind everyone else.
"Why can't we just walk? Ow! That hurts Ri!" I stopped short suddenly.
"Ri?" I asked, turning around to look at him as I let go of his hair. He rubbed his head where I had been grabbing it and grinned at me.
"Yeah. I heard Poppy call you it once. I thought it was cute and fit you!" He closed his eyes and gave me a toothy grin.
"Oh.." I said, embarrassed that anyone had heard the childish nickname that Poppy gave me, "I mean, I guess you could call me that. Not that you were asking or anything." I mumbled the last sentence, partly hoping he wouldn't hear.
"Hey! Can I call you that too?" Happy suddenly landed on Natsu's head.
"Ummmmm.." I trailed off. I didn't reply know why, but I wasn't sure if Ri was the name I really wanted people calling me.
"Me too!" I looked forward to see Lucy walking back towards us with Poppy flying beside her.
"I... I guess so." I said, looking down.
"Sweet!" Natsu said, getting up and finally walking with us. Poppy flew into my arms as we were walking.
"This is your fault." I whispered, a smile on my face. I guess maybe Ri was a nice nickname to have, if your friends said it with love.

~~~

We reached the train just in time, and by just in time I mean we literally had to sprint. I huffed out a breath as we climbed the steps onto the train, thankful that we somehow managed to make it. We all got seated, and I made sure I got a window seat. Natsu sat next to me, Lucy sat across from me, and next to Lucy was Poppy and Happy. Natsu was basically curled up next to me. I had to pull my knees in and stare out the window to try and distract me from my own motion sickness.
"Ri, do you not have motion sickness?" Lucy asked, cocking her head to the side.
"I do, but I've learned to distract myself from it so it's not that bad." I said, still staring out the window. If I looked inside the train it would just make my stomach feel worse.
"How... Do... You... Do... It?" Natsu managed to get out, clutching his stomach with one hand and his mouth with another.
"Here, sit up," I said, helping him get into sitting position, "now look out the window. Pretend Happy is flying with you in his grip, and let your mind wander. It'll ease the sickness." I said, going back to my previous position with my arms around my legs. I felt a sudden pressure on my shoulder, and turned my head, becoming swarmed with pink hair. I realized Natsu had set his chin on my shoulder, and somehow fallen asleep. I cocked my head to the side slightly, curious as to how he fell asleep so quickly. I guess my method worked really well for him. I decided to try and rest also, so I set my head on the back of my seat, closing my eyes and letting my mind wander, still pretending I was flying. Soon enough, I was awoken to the train stopping. I unfolded myself, realizing my head had been leaning against Natsu's. It seemed as if he was sleeping a bit deeper, so when the train stopped and everyone started to get up, he was still asleep.
"Natsuuuuu..." I said, poking the side of his head, "wake uppppp."
"Five more minutes..." I heard him mumble before he shifted...

He was basically on top of me.

He moved so his arms somehow ended up around me right below my shoulders, then his cheek was squished up against mine, and he had one leg across my lap.
"Guys," I said, looking at Lucy and the two flying cats with a pleading look, "please help me." Lucy chuckled.
"You're on your own with this one. Though I'd say you're enjoying it." She said, winking at me. I felt my face heat up in embarrassment as I noticed people staring as they walked past our seats.
"I am not enjoying this!" I said, going to poke Natsu's head again before I realized I couldn't move my arms because he had an iron grip on me.
"We'll be waiting for you outside." Poppy said as they started towards the exit.
"Aye!" Happy said as they stepped off of the train. Goddammit.
"Natsu, please just wake up. We have to get off the train before it starts moving again, and I can't really mo-" I stopped short as I turned my head, completely forgetting that his cheek was squished up against mine. Both of our heads moved and before I could even comprehend what was happening, our lips had touched. I immediately pulled my head back as much as I could, causing his head to fall forward and hit my collarbone. I guess the impact with my collarbone woke him up, because I heard a groan and suddenly his head lifted up. I was already looking back out the window, praying that he didn't realize what happened.
"Whaaa... Where are we?" He asked sleepily.
"On the train, stupid. I can't move because you've decided to use me as a human teddy bear. We have to get off before the train leaves, unless you want to deal with motion sickness again." He unwrapped himself and was up and running towards the exit faster than I thought was possible. I sighed in relief, thanking the gods that he had no idea what happened. If no one saw it, then it didn't happen. I got up to get off the train, finally stepping out into the evening air.

~

"I don't want to do this." I said, my anxiety setting in. We were standing in front of the two large guild doors, and I had been trying not to think about everyone's reactions until now.
"C'mon Ri. Everyone has missed you so much, especially Levy and Wendy." Lucy said, looking at the doors with a sad look on her face.
"But what if everyone's mad? I brought trouble into their lives and then just left like it was nothing." I looked down at my feet. I knew I was being unreasonably nervous, but I couldn't help it. My hands were shaking and I had this terrible feeling in my stomach, like the worst was about to happen.
"You'll be fine, Rini. Everyone loves and misses you. They'll welcome you in as if you never left." Poppy said, flying up and putting a paw on my shoulder. I took a deep breath, and nodded, taking a step forward and pushing open the doors. It was hectic, as I had remembered it to be. Maybe I could just go unnoticed?
"Hey guys, look who we found!" Natsu said, slinging his arm around my shoulders. Everyone stopped and looked at me, and the shocked faces made me want to crawl to the nearest corner and die. So much for going unnoticed.
The guild erupted with cheers. I heard several 'look who's back!'s and a lot of 'we missed you so much!' I immediately scouted for Levy and Wendy, finding them already making their way to where I was. I shrugged off Natsu's arm and ran towards them, practically tackling them.
"Rini! It's been so long. I've missed you." Levy said with tears in her eyes.
"I'm sorry I left." I said, holding both of them close. I finally let go of them, and began greeting everyone else in the guild. A girl I'd never seen before approached me. She had white short hair and kind of looked like Mirajane, but younger.
"Hi! My name is Lisanna. I'm Mirajane and Elfman's younger sister. I came back while you were gone." She smiled sweetly at me. I took her hand and shook it, also greeting her.
"Were you on a mission?" I asked, wondering why I hadn't seen her when I first came to this guild.
"Well... Not exactly. It's hard to explain. I'll tell you another time, when it's not as hectic." She said, motioning to all of the chaos around us. Everyone seemed to get even crazier after I arrived according to Lisanna. Her and I sat down and talked for awhile, getting to know each other.
"So you use all four elements, right?" She asked, looking at me with wonder. I stared at her, confused.
"How did you know that?" I asked. I tried thinking back, but the only person that knew about my real (partly forgotten) powers was Poppy. That's when I started to piece things together.
Flashback
"Well I agree with Lucy," I heard a small, high pitched voice say, "do you guys want to find out more about Rini or not?"
"Oh, you're looking for dragon slayer books?" The old woman said.
End flashback
Suddenly the room was too crowded. There were too many people and too many questions in my head.
Did Poppy seriously tell the whole guild my secret about my powers?
Why would she do that?
Did she just totally forget that I was trying to keep it a secret? Or was she willing enough to just go around screaming it to the world?
"...Rini? Rini! Are you there?" I snapped out of my thoughts, seeing Lisanna sitting there looking concerned.
"Sorry, I was lost in thought. I'm going to go for a walk if that's alright." I said, getting up from my seat. I made my way towards the doors, trying my hardest not to attract attention. I opened the doors a crack and slipped out. The minute I hit open air I broke into a sprint, heading for the woods east of here. I couldn't help the tears forming in my eyes. It didn't hurt as much that she betrayed me like that. It really hurt because I knew I deserved it. I deserved it for leaving all of them, and deserting poor Poppy. She didn't deserve that. I kept running and running until I was far enough in the woods where I knew no one could hear me. Then I screamed, as loud as I could. I looked down to see fire licking as my fists.
"Ah..." I said, falling to my knees. I put the fire out, pressed my palms to the ground and closed my eyes, trying to calm myself. When I opened my eyes back up, I was surprised- to say the least- to see small blue flowers growing from the ground in between my fingers. I sat back on my heels, looking up to see that those weren't the only blue flowers that had grown.

The entire forest ground around me was covered in them.

I looked around in wonder. Why blue? I stood up, much calmer now. I'd have to ask Levy about this whole phenomenon, but right now I'd been away long enough for someone to notice, so I decided to head back. As I turned, I caught a smell that I hadn't noticed before. I knew it right away.