The Salamander's Sister

Chapter 109: Late Return!!

Natsume's pov

I got the feeling that once we got back home, we were all going to kick into high gear with the training. Whoever this Sabertooth Guild was, I bet they are really strong since they replaced Fairytail as the number one guild in Fiore. I had a feeling that we were going to come face to face with them very soon which is something that I was both nervous and excited about, I wanted to know what they were like. I also got the sense that we were not going to get along very well with them, either due to the fact that they replaced us and we're going to be competing against them or their members are going to be rude and extremely cocky since they knocked us down a few pegs. And although they have, I just know that we are going to give it our all to prove to the world why we still can be considered #1. I noticed that Juvia had become really close with Aquarius, it seemed they both had something against Lucy. Taurus had finally learned to leave Erza alone, especially after she gave him a good thrashing for constantly hitting on her. Levy seemed really fond of Horologium and even Wendy was having fun with  Happy, Carla and Lucky who were getting along very well with some of Lucy's other Celestial Spirits. In the short time that we had been here, I met Scorpio who is dating Aquarius and something tells me, he is the reason why Aquarius always bails on Lucy during battles that she is needed in. Gray and I stood side by side, saying our goodbyes to the celestial spirits and it seemed that Satomi had a hard time parting with one of the nicola spirits that become bonded with her in our time here. She could hardly be separated from it, I think the only way she was going to part from it was us prying it from her arms. Which is what both of her brother's were actively doing at the moment, while all that chaos was going on, I just decided to take in the world around me. This place is beautiful and peaceful, if I could, I would love to stay here sometime and just relax. Get away from all the struggles of daily life, forget about all the hardships we've been through but that would be too much. I would get lonely being here without Gray, Lucy, Erza or my idiot of a brother, Natsu. I chuckled watching Chase and Satoru try to separate Satomi from the Nicola spirit in her arms. "Looks to me like Satomi just doesn't want to part with that Nicola." Kosuke sighed, shaking his head and walked over to help Chase and Satoru. "What are you thinking about, Sume?" Gray asked, wrapping an arm around my shoulder. He pulled me closer to him, "Oh nothing much. I was just thinking about how great it would be to stay here in the Celestial Realm for a while one day.. Escape from the struggle of our everyday lives just for a little bit." I started, "Yeah?" He asked, insisting that I continue. "But I realized that it would get lonely here without you. Without Erza and Lucy or the guild. And even without my idiot of a twin." I smiled lightly, "Yeah, your idiot of a twin wouldn't be the only one who would miss having you around." He and I looked at one another fondly, his eyes staring into mine. I hugged him tightly, the two of us each other's presence and looked up when we heard Satomi shouting at Satoru and Chase. Kosuke was holding onto the Nicola spirit that she had been holding, while another one decided to jump onto him. A few more started surrounding Kosuke, causing him to panic as he didn't know what to do. Erza started laughing when Kosuke fell onto his butt and the Nicola spirits that were just surrounding him decided to jump him, "Hey!! A little help here?! Wait, don't do that!" Levy giggled from her spot as I shook my head and smiled, it was adorable seeing the Nicola Spirits latch onto Kosuke and crawl all over him. "It looks like the Nicola spirits are somewhat fine of Kosuke over there." Lucy said, "Yeah, it sure looks like it." Gray said, "I think it's funny." Erza chuckled, "Same here. Look at how much he's panicking."

"Give me back the Nicola spirit, I already gave him a name!!" Satomi shouted, "And what would that be?" Chase asked, crossing his arms.

"Larry!"

"You named a Nicola Spirit that isn't yours, Larry?!! What kind of name is that?!" Chase shouted, throwing his arms up in the air dramatically. I sweat-dropped at the name and shook my head as Erza and Levy just chuckled in amusement over the name. "It's a nice name!! There is nothing wrong with the name Larry and even if he isn't mine, I can always find his key!!" Satomi argued back, "Leave it to Satomi to come up with the weirdest names for anything." I said, scratching the back of my head. "Wait, you mean to say she has a way of naming things wrong?" Wendy asked, "Yeah, she's been like that since I met her." I watched as Satomi started fighting with Chase, Satoru was trying to separate the two of them. "Old friend." Satomi and Chase stopped fighting as the Celestial Spirit King started his speech, all of us gathering around. "Know that we are with you."

"Mm!"

"It's good to be workin' with ya again!Please feel free to call on us anytime."

"I'll visit the guild again sometime." Leo said, "I'll hold you to that." I said, making him smile at me. "Please continue to look after Ms. Lucy, everyone!"

"Well, then. May the guidance of the stars. Keep you well, old friend!" The Celestial Spirit smiled down on Lucy, "The celestial spirits really do love you." Kosuke said, "They're the best friends I could hope for!" Lucy nodded, smiling at her spirits. "Okay! We've had our fun!
Now let's get back and train like crazy!" With our last goodbyes, we were sent back to the beach we had been training on before we left. "Yeah! We got three months to catch up to the other guilds!" Kosuke threw his fist into the air, something tells me that we might be at a disadvantage here. "Sabertooth is goin' down!" Natsu and Gray said in unison, I just giggled at their excitement since it was cute. "Oh, right. I forgot to mention something. Time flows differently in the celestial spirit world and the human world." Virgo explained, "Wait, does that mean..." Satomi started, "...that a year here is like only a day in the human world?!" I finished, looking at Virgo. "That'd make this a fantastic training zone!" Satoru said, "No. Just the opposite. One day in the celestial spirit world equals three months in the human world." Virgo said and that's when it hit me like a ton of bricks. There's just no way. No possible way we missed three months of training.

"Huh?"

"Guys! We've been waiting forever!" I looked to my left, spotting Jet and Droy rushing over to us. "The Grand Magic Games are in five days!" Jet said, "I hope you guys trained lots and lots!" Droy said, "It's all over." Gray, Erza and Natsu all hit the sand face first in disbelief, the rest of staring off into the distance in complete shock. "Mustache man! Give us our time back!" Natsu shouted, "I can't believe this!!! Why didn't you say anything, Lucy?!!" Kosuke turned to her, "It slipped my mind. I was so caught up in the pretense that the Celestial Spirit World was in trouble that I forgot about that." Lucy said, fiddling with her fingers. "How are we going to get stronger in just five days?!!! Ahhhhh!!" Chase sunk to his knees, while I sighed heavily and shook my head. This is going to be a rough five days.