The Fate of the Four Elements

Chapter Thirteen: Suspicion and Sleep.

"Poppy?" I croaked out, seeing her fly gently out of the trees.
"Why did you run off? Lisanna came and told me how you just stood up and left, and I guess Natsu and Lucy overheard. They freaked out and I had to calm them down before I came looking for you." She looked worriedly at me. I smiled, glad that someone cared. My smile quickly turned into a frown as I remembered why I ran here.
"Why did you tell everyone about my powers?" I said, clenching my fists and looking at her.
"What are you talking about? I haven't told anyone about your true powers!" She said, looking at me with a confused expression. I was silent for a few seconds, my emotions ranging from shocked to confused to relieved.
"But... Why were you looking for dragon slayer books to know more about me? And how did Lisanna know..." I trailed off, trying to come to any conclusion other than the fact that she was lying to me.
"We wanted to find out more on your water and air powers in hopes of figuring out what Black Ashes wanted to use you for," she began, looking like she was thinking back to that day, "and as for Lisanna, I have no idea how she found out." I looked at the ground, confused but relieved.
"I'm sorry for thinking you did that. I guess I just jumped to conclusions." I said, a weak smile spreading across my face.
"It's okay, Ri. We'll have to keep an eye on Lisanna for now, but let's just go home alright?" She asked, flying up to me and taking my hand.
"Oh!" I remembered something that I had yet to tell her, "I don't think I have water and air dragon slayer magic." I said almost nonchalantly. She turned and looked at me with confusion and horror.
"What do you mean?!" She exclaimed, still shocked.
"Right after I ran into you guys at the book store, I regained another memory. It was me, but much younger, and I was practicing water and wind magic. I used Aerial Slice and Water Slice, but no dragon slayer magic. Also, I was training and learned how to use Fire Dragon's Roar, but when I tried Water and Air Dragons Roar, it didn't work." I looked at her as we started walking again and she processed all the information I just gave her.
"Do you still have the book?" She said, finally snapping herself out of her thoughts.
"Yes. I gave that old lady 2,000 jewel because I was running from you guys." I mumbled, still a little angry that I wasted so much on a book.
"We'll have to have you try all of the spells in the book that relate to fire, earth, water and air. Hopefully we can figure this out without having to tell anyone. I know Wendy, Natsu and the others are already a little suspicious because you've randomly used fire before, but thankfully they haven't pushed it with me when I said I didn't know." She looked at me sternly, knowing that I'd slipped up too many times already. I apologized, scratching my head sheepishly.
"It's fine, lets just go back to Lucy's apartment." She said, landing on my head. We were at the edge of the forest by the time we ceased the chatter and just enjoyed silence until we reached Lucy's place. I saw that the lights were out, and realized Lucy was probably asleep since it was- matter of fact -the middle of the night. We got to the door, and I wiggled the handle, silently cursing.
"Do you have a key?" I whispered, looking at Poppy who was floating next to me. She shook her head sadly, saying that usually she doesn't get home this late, so she doesn't carry a key with her. I sighed.
"We'll either have to wake her up, or go through the window, which could wake her up anyway." I said, looking at the door longingly. I wish she had just left it open, but at the same time I'm glad she's smart enough to lock it at night. I sighed again.
"Let's try the window. We might as well attempt to not wake her up." I said as Poppy picked me up. We flew to the nearest window, and I tried my hardest to silently open it. As Poppy and I floated there, I brought my knees up to my chest, and then stuck them straight out so they went through the open window. I sat on the windowsill, ducking my head in and proceeding to silently set my feet down on the floor. Poppy floated in, and we crept into my room. As I neared the bed, I noticed someone in it. I looked at Poppy, pointed at the bed and mouthed "Natsu?". She nodded, mouthing "usually sleeps there".
"Since when?" I mouthed, wondering where the hell his actual house was.
"Since you left." She responded, flying over to a small bed of pillows that Happy was sleeping on, and curled up beside him, almost immediately passing out. I decided I didn't want to disturb any of them, so I'd just sleep on the couch. I looked at all of them, sleeping soundly as if there were no worries in the world. I went over to the two cats, giving them each a small kiss on the forehead.
"Goodnight, Poppy, Happy." I whispered, walking back to the bed where Natsu was sleeping. I leaned down and kissed his head, becoming almost suffocated by pink hair. I didn't care, though.
"And goodnight, Natsu." I said, almost silently as I turned to leave the room and go sleep on the couch. I was stopped by someone grabbing my wrist. I turned in horror. Don't tell me he was awake...? I looked to see his eyes still closed, and he mumbled something inaudible. I let out a breath, thankful that he was still asleep. I tried to gently pull away from his grip, only to have him pull back, sending me flying towards the bed. I used my free hand to catch myself, so I didn't land on him. I let out another breath, trying not to think about how awkward it would have been if I hadn't caught myself. I looked at him, and he seemed to be furrowing his brows in frustration. "Stay." I heard him mumble. I sighed, using my free hand to pull the covers up and slip into the bed. His grip on my wrist finally loosened, and I moved myself to the edge of the bed, hoping that if he woke up, we'd be as far apart as possible. I didn't even want to think about him waking up and being weirded out by the fact that I crawled into bed with him. I felt my eyes start to close, and shifted my legs slightly. I wasn't sure why, but it must have made Natsu think I was leaving the bed, because before I could think straight he had wrapped his arm around my waste and pulled me closer to him. I sucked in a breath, feeling my face heating up. Awkward, awkward, awkward! No matter how much I wanted to move, I couldn't. I was too afraid I'd wake him up and have to explain what happened. He's very warm, though. So, I just sat there with my heart beating so fast I thought it would burst. I wasn't sure exactly when, but at some point my eyes closed and I drifted off to sleep, comforted by the warm arm around me and the sleeping bodies of three people I held dearly around me.