Here is the next chapter. I'm so surprised that I've been motivated to write, but I guess I just have so many ideas. It's awesome :)

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Smokey Ice: Chapter Five

Words: 2,963
Published: 2/20/18
Updated: 2/20/18

"It's so cold," Lucy, even as an older mature woman, complains. Since being used to warmth whenever with Natsu, she had also grown unaccustomed to the cold.

It seems that none of Team Natsu give her the time of day and enjoy throwing snowballs at each other. Even Erza, the most mature of them all, has joined and built her own fortress, along with Luna. Growing red with anger, the snow falling on Lucy's shoulder melts away.

Ever since coming together as a mated pair with Natsu, Lucy noticed she wielded heat in her magic energy during certain emotions. Of course, she couldn't form fire, but she could mold the slightest amount of smoke.

"We need to focus! Nashi and Storm aren't going to make it out without us, their nakama, to help them! So put down your stupid snowballs, and let's save them!", Lucy bursts.

Erza, Gray, Natsu, and Luna all pause and turn to look at Lucy. The blonde gives her husband a certain stern look, and he sighs in reluctance, knowing that if he did not listen, he would have to sleep on the couch again. As his shoulders droop and the snowball falls from his hand, the rest of the group follow after his lead. Lucy smiles, and her expression changes into determination.

"Onward!", she marches.

Everyone laughs, and Lucy had to admit - it was awfully cheesy. They set their trail to the lost fighting duo - Nashi and Storm.

At the moment, Team Natsu and Luna are currently on the mountain where Nova, Rosemary, Storm, and Nashi had their job. They are determined to bring them all safely home, no matter how difficult. But the weather outside is starting to worsen, and the already-flooded-with-snow land is adding more inches because a blizzard decides to run its way through.

Lucy shivers more, and Natsu, having become more mature throughout their marriage, decides to wrap his arm around her for warmth instead of joking about her skimpy clothing. The blonde mage appreciates the motion and pecks Natsu softly on his cheek in return.

"This weather is certainly strong," Erza states, noticing the effect it is starting to take on Lucy and Luna.

"I could melt this whole place down," Natsu suggests cheekily, still giddy after Lucy's small kiss. After his years of experience and training, he most likely could.

"Please don't. Laxus would kill you for how much money this town would fine you for," Luna sweats nervously.

Natsu laughs. "Fine, I won't. Just so that Nashi will bring home all the money we want for food," he pats his belly.

"The money from the job is for fixing the request board that Nashi and Storm broke," Erza reminds the old kid.

"You mean the board that Nashi broke," Gray mutters.

"Nashi didn't do anything," Natsu defends his daughter. "Storm was the one who let the fire ball hit the board."

"Idiot," Gray shakes his head with disbelief that one could be so stupid.

"What did ya call me!?", Natsu shouts and lights a fist.

"I called you an idiot 'cause you are one," Gray narrows his eyes at his rival.

Natsu snaps and sends a fist to his nose, but Gray dodges and kicks his knee. An immature brawl breaks out between the two as Lucy shivers at lack of contact with heat. Luna cheers on her dad with glee while a certain mage is bound to end the fight.

"Ow!", the two heads band harshly together, and Erza glares at them with a terrifying aura.

Pulling out a sword, Erza speaks, "It was showing a bad example of you two that broke the request board."

"Yes sir," Gray and Natsu sulk like scolded children.

Luna asks, "Dad, did you hear that?" In response, he nods, and they both stare in one direction.

"Did you notice something?", Gray asks in his usual aloof attitude.

The two dragon slayers do not respond but sprint in a certain direction. Gray rolls his eyes but chooses to follow them along with the rest of the group.

A young girl sat on the swing to enjoy the glorious day. Her short navy blue waves rustled with soft wind that coursed through her body. The light is bright but somehow it is fairly cool this Autumn afternoon.

"Rose!", her father calls. The said girl on the swing faces her dad and watches as he attempts to kick a soccer ball but ends up landing straight on his hand in the dirt.

"Phew-hahahaha," Rose giggles but loses her grip on the swing and shares the same fate as her dad. "Oof."

Her dad in turn laughs at her karma, but his wife quickly moves to clean Rose up. Rose is picked up with a crooked smile, as she was missing one of her front teeth. Her mom stares into her daughters brown orbs and smiles softly. "You have to be careful. Next time you could hurt yourself."

"Okay, mama," Rose nods obediently.

"Wendy, do you think she's all good to play soccer with us?", Wendy's husband asks hopefully. Rose nods her head to show how much she wanted to play with her dad.

"Of course," she laughs at their energy.

Rose grins and runs to kick the ball, "You can't catch me!", before everything blacks out.

Beep...

...

Beep...

...

Beep...

Rose opens her eyes for the first time that morning and sighs. It has been awhile since that memory appeared in her dreams. She wishes her ceiling could turn into the sky filled with fluffy clouds and blinding light, but it is only a regular fan that has spun above her for about two years straight everyday. Her warm, despite cold environment, eyes transfer from the ceiling to the window, showing a gloomy rainy day.

"Good morning, Rose," her mother, who has the habit of waking up an hour earlier to see Rose, greets with a smile. Her daughter's personality tended to be a result of her husband's pessimistic side, so she would try to be positive for her.

"Hey mom," she responds as she stares out the window. 103 days of being in this room...

"Whatcha thinking about?", Wendy asks, following the direction of her eyes to the visual of pitter patter.

"Nothing. Honestly, I'm really bored," Rose shrugs and turns to her mom. It frightened Wendy that the light she once saw in her daughters eyes had been stolen away by fear and loneliness.

"We could watch a movie together on the screen lacrima," her mother suggests.

"We've watched all the movies it has, and they're not very interesting," Rose sulks. Lately, her condition has been getting worse, so she has not been able to walk as long or do the activities she has loved. Instead, she is glued to the bed, stuck doing nothing.

"Board game?", her mother questions.

"No, a few of the chess pieces are missing, monopoly takes way too long, and one of the 4 year olds in the room across from this one took candyland," Rose answers.

"What about-", the door to the hospital room opens, interrupting her.

"Mrs. Conbolt," a nurse walks in with a sad expression.

"Yes?", Rose's mom forms a face of concern after seeing the nurse.

"We have no updates, but we will be testing her magic levels today," she says with a pained whisper.

"I thought it was only required once a month," Mrs. Conbolt whispers back, knowing how much Rose absolutely despised the day where doctors tested her magic. It hurts her both emotionally and physically.

"Wendy, I know how much it pains her and you for us to do this, but it will help us solve and fix this. I know Rose can get better. She's strong," the nurse gives a sad smile. "I will let you talk to her." She turns to leave and Wendy turns to Rose.

Without opening her mouth, Rose guesses, "It's M day?" Wendy nods, and her daughter instinctively hugs her, slightly terrified.

"This will help you," Wendy whispers soothingly, not entirely convinced herself. More than anything, she wished magic could fix her daughter's pain, but not even her sky magic is able to solve this one problem. It upsets Wendy that as the sky dragon slayer, she could not stay true to Grandeeney's teachings and heal her loving daughter.

She hoped that one day Rose could feel normal and be happy, even with her weakness. Because with every weakness, there is a strength. She sees something great in Rose, even if her and her body does not know it yet.

When Rose is left alone, as habit before every M testing, she hums and sings a little tune to peace herself.

"~Every night I lie in bed
the brightest colors fill my head
a million dreams are keeping me awake...
I think of what the world could be
a vision of the one I see
a million dreams is all it's gonna take
a million dreams for the world I'm gonna make~"

Nashi quickly dodges a large boulder of ice heading her way and sends another fiery breath towards Storm. He in turn shields himself and sends an ice lance down on Nashi. She bursts with fire, and the ice melts away.

The two wizards had been brawling for almost 30 minutes sending attacks back and forth in effort to determine the strongest. So far there has been no progress; the two Fairy Tail mages are only scratched, bruised, and tired.

They both in unison pause for a moment to catch their breaths. Nashi stares at the snow on the ground while Storm directs his attention to his rival.

Storm, now missing his shirt, wipes the sweat off his forehead and begins to speak. "Maybe we should continue another time. Rosemary and Nova are probably looking-" He's interrupted as quick reflexes turn his body inches away from Nashi's kick of fire.

Another punch is targeted towards Storm's nose. "Stop coming up with excuses. I am stronger than you." Storm avoids Nashi's attack and shrugs.

"I'm bored, so I may as well amuse myself," he grins and motions to kick Nashi's side. She grabs his leg swiftly and flips him onto his back. Being the clever and fast wizard Storm is, he drags Nashi down with her.

But she falls straight on top of him.

Storm winces when coming into contact with the ground before opening his eyes to look at the pink head on his chest. She huffs and pushes herself to a position above Storm's chest. She forms a cage with limbs around his body. She focuses her green irises onto Storm's blue swirls, unknowingly pulling her face closer. Storm's face turns into a light shade of pink until she voices her complaint. "That hurt."

Meanwhile, Nashi avoids looking anywhere but at Storm's chiseled chest. She has seen him shirtless countless times, but up close, it almost looked - dare she think this - attractive.

"Hey! I took your impact, so don't be complain'," Storm defends, trying to cool off Nashi's heat from his face.

Nashi tucks in a strand of loose hair from her ponytail and glares at Storm, causing him to gulp down in result of her intense gaze. "You always try to come up with excuses," Nashi shakes her head with disappointment before moving off Storm's body.

"Ehem...", someone clears his throat.

Nashi and Storm turn and spot Rosemary, Charlotte, Nova, Erza, Gray, Natsu, Lucy, and Luna all there staring at the two mages with baffled expressions.

There is nothing but silence for a few seconds.

...

...

...

"Hey guys!~", Nashi greets oblivious.

Storm begins to blush again. There goes the spazz being an idiot like always.

"I see you're out of the cave now," Nova points out, impressed.

Natsu instantly begins complaining. "So that means we took a 5 hour-"

"2 hours, actually," Luna corrects.

"-train ride to here for nothin'!?", Natsu asks with a sharp tone.

No one answers his rhetorical question while Lucy interrogates Nashi. "How did you get out?"

"Simple: I ate my way out," Nashi answers with a smile.

"Wha...?", everyone turns to Storm for proof.

"Unbelievably, she did," he nods and gestures to the wall covering the cave.

"But most importantly, what was Nashi doing on top of you," Luna wiggles her eyebrows suggestively while Storm groaned.

"He pulled me down," Nashi explains vaguely, which causes Storm to facepalm.

Nova and Rosemary both gasp in shock. The lightning terror of a woman turns to Storm once again. "I didn't know you were the dominant one. I always assumed Nashi was." She shows her second impressed look, while Storm covered his embarrassment in his hands.

Mavis, please do not let Nashi speak ever again. I will curse the day she-

"It also hurt, but he made it less painful by-", Storm slaps a hand over her mouth and mutters a small "shut up."

"Gray!", Natsu turns to his rival, "Fix your son's stripper habits or else I'll bash his face in!" He punches his other hand and narrows his eyes at Storm.

Storm widens his eyes with fear. If there was one person he did not want to mess with, it was Natsu Dragneel, rumored to burn down cities all at once by accident.

Gray scoffs. "I did not teach my son to take advantage of girls."

Storm sighs at the misunderstanding. "I did not-"

"Shut up!", Natsu snaps, forming a fist. Storm flinches at his tone. "You don't get to say anything. One more word out of you and I'll-"

"Natsu," Storm watches as Lucy places a gentle hand on his arm and the fire dies out. "Calm down, we didn't even hear the whole story."

Luna elbows Storm's side and winks. "I don't think we wanna hear the whole story."

"I'm confused," Nashi and Charlotte both mumble as everyone argues with each other.

"Stop," Erza demands, and everyone silences themselves. "Now, allow Storm to explain."

"We were just fighting, and we both fell. Simple as that," Storm explains.

"That's it?", Luna asks. "Such a bummer. I had hope."

"You still need to get a shirt on, kid," Natsu yells.

"Uhhmm, y-yes sir," Storm salutes Natsu.

"So do you wanna go on a job with me and Koha?", Luke asks after finishing the details about the new Fairy Tail mage. He sits next to Kakumi, who finishes up the last chapter of the book he has been reading since yesterday.

"Your parents are gone and worrying about your sister. I don't think it'd be wise to leave without informing them we're doing a job," Kakumi mumbles sensible advice.

Luke groans. "But I've wanted to go on a job so bad! And Koha made it sound like it'll be tons of fun!"

"I don't know that new girl well enough," Kakumi states briefly.

"What better way to get to know someone than going on a job with them?", Luke points out, trying his best to convince his best friend. For the first time, Kakumi pauses mid-chapter and glances at Kohaku. She is standing in front of the temporary request board/ wall, deciding on a job. He suspects something is up with her, but he does not quite know yet. Perhaps going on a job would help clear his opinion about her.

"Okay," Kakumi places a bookmark in his book and places it in his backpack. His intuition is telling him that figuring out Kohaku would be more important than finishing a book.

Luke grins. "Okay!"

The two walk towards Kohaku. Luke is visibly excited while Kakumi is his normal, reserved demeanor. From the noise of footsteps, Kohaku turns to them. As a bright smile contorts her neutral face, she gives an outstretched hand.

She greets Kakumi, "Hello, I am Kohaku."

Kakumi peers into her abnormal colored eyes and nods, rejecting the handshake. "I am Kakumi." He watches as her features contort to confusion.

Luke quickly makes an excuse, "Sorry about that. He has a big germ phobia." Kakumi turns to look at Luke and smiles again.

"Oh okay. I understand," Kohaku waves it off. "This is the job I chose."

Kakumi picks it up and reads the paper.

The Sea Dragon of Lake Luca

Reward: 250,000,000 Jewels

Location: Village of Hakaluca

Mission: Defeat the terrifying sea dragon that continues to terrorize our village.

"Woah!", Luke widens his eyes at his disbelief. "250 million jewels?"

"Yup!", Kohaku confirms. "All we have to do is defeat a silly little sea dragon."

Kakumi narrows his eyes. "There must be a reason for this amount. I don't think it will be a little dragon." From his knowledge and what he has heard from older Fairy Tail mages, dragons are not a force to be reckoned with. They were strong almighty creatures.

"Don't be a party pooper," Kohaku pouts.

"Yeah, Kakumi," Luke nods in agreement.

Kakumi frowns. It is no good. Kohaku has Luke wrapped around her little finger, submitting his thoughts and actions to her will. "I will go only to make sure Luke doesn't injure himself."

"You're not my dad," Luke rolls his eyes, but Kakumi ignores his attitude. He's only playing "cool" for Kohaku.

"Great!", Kohaku smiles gleefully.

"Let's go!", Luke grins cheerfully and sprints in front of Kohaku and Kakumi.

Kohaku stays behind, and her friendly expression dissipates. She turns to give Kakumi a cold look before running to Luke and saying, "Wait for me!"

Thank you for reading :)

~ S