Fairy Tail: The Phoenix Prophecy [AU] [Discontinued]

Chapter Fourteen

     Natsu slowly began to regain consciousness as he cuddled in closer to whatever he was holding. It was warm and cuddly and he just wanted to sleep forever, but the sun was rising and its bright orange rays were assaulting his eyes, even when they were closed. Looks like he had to get up after all. Natsu released whatever he was holding and yawned loudly whilst stretching his back and arms. He took a second to take in his surroundings before he looked back down at the bed. His face blushed ever so slightly as he realized he was cuddling with his best friend Lucy last night! Dammit, he stayed here longer than he intended!

     Ah, whatever, He thought as he stood up and stood away from the group to stretch. At least she wasn't wailing like a baby again. He chuckled to himself and walked over to the spot where Gray and Gajeel were sleeping at. Natsu knelt besides them and poked them with sticks.

     Gajeel rolled away from Natsu but the latter only poked his back roughly, the iron dragon growled and turned back over to smack the stick out of his hand."God dammit, Salamander go back to sleep..." Gajeel grumbled sleepily and Natsu's eyebrow twitched irritably.

    "Guys, we're supposed to leave at dawn for Alvarez, remember? Get off your lazy asses and let's go!" Natsu hissed and proceeded to poke their faces with larger sticks.

     Gray waved him off and ducked his face under the covers. "Okay okay, we're gonna just..." he cut himself off with a yawn and snuggled deeper under the covers. "sleep for a little longer... Oi, Natsu, why don't you go get breakfast for us? Yeah... caribou please.. thanks..." Gray was asleep before Natsu could annoy him again.

     Natsu growled and stood up. "Lazy bastards..." He muttered and walked away from them and towards Lucy's backpack. He opened it up and rummaged around in it until he eventually found what he was looking for. He unraveled the map and looked closely at the it. They were around a hundred miles of Fiore, near the kingdom of Zentopia, and thankfully enough there was a plain nearby and in this season the caribou and buffalo are abundant in these parts.

    "Ah, just a couple miles west of here! Noice! Time to get me some grub!" Natsu sniggered and put the map back in the bag. He returned to his dragon form and took off into the skies. The gale he'd left behind only slightly annoyed the people he'd left behind, except for one, who looked up at the red-pink dragon in confusion.

*~~...~~*

     Natsu soared above the clouds the kept his keen eyes down casted at the plains beneath him. The wind currents today were warm and the sun's warm rays sank into his scales comfortably. The plains were a beautiful golden green and the trees behind them were tall with dark green leaves sticking out every which way. There were no clouds today, leaving the beautiful skies open for all to see. Thankfully enough there was a herd of buffalo grazing just below him. Natsu considered his options for a moment looking at each creature with careful calculation: there was nine buffalo in total with five healthy adults, two elders, and two calves. The elderly were looking like they were having trouble keeping up with the others and one of the adults had an injured leg, making them lag behind the rest of the herd, just behind the calves. Welp, with eight dragons and five humans to feed, they would need as much as they could get. So with these three options in mind, Natsu tucked in his wings and dove down at the mammals.

     The herd saw his shadow and they bleated in terror before dashing away from him, but at the rate he was diving at, he was too fast and caught up with them quickly. The herd was far too close to the tree line for him to simply dive and grab, so he did something else that Lucy had titled "barbaric": the traditional hunting style. Because the herd was fleeing in terror, they didn't pay much mind to the three specific ones they were leaving behind, and once they were separated, Natsu soared ahead of them and breathed a corral of fire around them. The three buffalo were too slow to escape and they began bleating in confusion at the fire that surrounded them. Natsu dove into the blaze and made quick work of his prey, the elders were easy to take care of but the adult was stronger and put up a better fight, but in the end the dragon won.