Work Text:
Nestled in the branches of a big shady oak tree, Happy slept and dreamed of fish. Big fish, little fish, red fish, purple fish. They swum in the water and flew in the air, and didn’t even wriggle away when Happy flew up to catch them. He liked fish, so it was a very good dream. A wonderful fishy dream…
Then Happy woke up, saw the sun already way up in the sky, and remembered what day it was.
“Huh?” Happy rapidly shook his head into wakefulness and looked around. “Natsu?” He looked at their house down below the tree he was napping in, but it was empty. So he must be at the guild hall!
Happy materialized his wings and started flying towards the Fairy Tail guild hall, relishing in how nice the sun and the breeze felt. Today really was the perfect day for their trip! He hoped tomorrow would be just as good too. Had Natsu gotten their stuff together already? Happy forgot his pack back at the house…
Happy spotted Natsu outside the guild, talking with Erza, Gray, Lucy, and Wendy and Charle. He excitedly flew faster towards them, until he noticed that Erza was holding up a piece of paper. A piece of paper that looked exactly like a job notice.
“…the notice says that the bugs are six feet tall and shoot acid from their eyes,” Erza continued to casually explain to the others. “And the centipedes can tap-dance, apparently. So naturally, I thought the job would be a perfect fit for us—it shouldn’t take too long to deal with as a group.”
“Ehhhhh, heh, bugs with acid, huh?” Lucy laughed nervously. “Sounds fun! And a little bit gross I don’t know maybe I’ll sit this one…”
“The reward is 900,000 Jewel,” Erza amended.
“In! I’ll sit this one in!” Lucy quickly finished. “I mean, um, yeah, count me in!”
“Yeah, sure.” Gray shrugged. “I’m sure the people who posted this were exaggerating, anyways.”
“I’m kind of curious if they really tap dance though…” Wendy mused. “But, oh, yeah! I’ll join you; do you want to come too, Charle?”
“Ugh, sounds disgusting, but fine, I’ll be there too.”
Erza nodded to them with satisfaction. “What about you, Natsu?”
Wait, no! Happy flew closer to them in distress. Were they going to have to work today? Well, that is, he still loved going on jobs with all his friends, of course! But…today they had plans. It’d be disappointing if they couldn’t go…giant bugs didn’t sound nearly as fun as—
“Nope! No can do!” Natsu announced, immediately putting all of Happy’s worries to rest all at once. “I’m going fishing with Happy! We’re—oh, hey, buddy! You awake?” Natsu waved with a grin as soon as he noticed his presence.
“Yep!” Happy affirmed, feeling better already. “I’m ready to go! Oh, as soon as I get my camping and fishing stuff!”
“Really, where are you going?” Lucy asked with curiosity.
“The Firefly Mountains!” Natsu answered enthusiastically. “Me and Happy were going to go out there by the big lake for a few days and catch fish and stuff. And, we’re planning to catch the Great Redtooth Crawler!”
“The what?” Gray raised an eyebrow at the name.
Natsu chuckled mischievously. “The Redtooth Crawler! The biggest fish in any lake in all the world! With giant scales, spikes along its back, beady red eyes, and a single red tooth!”
“But why is it called a ‘crawler’?” Lucy questioned.
“I dunno.” Natsu shrugged. “Maybe it’s supposed to crawl on land, or something?”
“And it’s also delicious!” Happy added hastily. “You forgot to tell them that it’s delicious! Really really juicy!”
“Uh, sounds great?” Lucy sounded confused, which made sense since she didn’t know fish like Happy and Natsu did, but at least she knew that it was great now.
“Yes, I understand.” Erza nodded with an approving smile. “You two should follow through with your plans. I’m sure that we can handle the job just fine.”
“Yeah, have fun fishing!” Wendy encouraged.
“Alright, buddy?” Natsu turned back to Happy. “You heard them! Let’s get ready to go!”
+++
Natsu walked up the mountain with a pack of equipment and food on his back, relishing the chance to get up here and stretch his legs a little. One key advantage, in Natsu’s opinion, that destinations located in the wilderness had over places that were not was the fact that there were absolutely no trains available to get anyone there. No tracks, no roads, no cars, no nothing. Only walking. Sweet, non-nausea-inducing walking. Or flying, in Happy’s case.
“Are we there yet?” Happy asked with excited eagerness as they got to the part of the trek where they had to climb up rocks, making it feel like they must be a long ways up the mountain already. “I mean, are we close?”
“Almost!” Natsu responded with confidence, before actually taking the moment to look at his surroundings. What landmarks were he looking for, again? “Or, maybe?” He saw the tall snowy peaks in the distance—they weren’t going to be climbing up those, but from the pictures, he knew that the lake they were going to was going to be just at the base of some of those slopes. They just needed to get a little further up in the highlands to get to that spot. Problem was, everything else nearby seemed to be just lots and lots of trees, so that didn’t give him a lot of landmark clues. “We’ll…get there eventually!” he declared.
“Okay!” Happy flew up the rocky slope easily and did a somersault in the air once he got there. Natsu, however, would need just a tad more time climbing up.
This lake—Firefly Lake, named after the mountains—was going to be a new spot for them both. The rugged terrain one had to traverse to get there earned it the “strenuous” label by the travel guide guy Natsu was talking to, but for them, it really was no sweat.
“It’s a quaint location, so peaceful and tranquil, with the sun sparkling on the water just like dancing fireflies,” the guide spoke pleasantly while showing him and Happy the photos, “But!” His eyes suddenly took on a frenzied gleam. “Hidden dangers lurk underneath the waters! A great monster fish, the Redtooth Crawler, has been spotted by the locals. Razor teeth, beady eyes—!”
“A big fish?” Happy questioned, sparkles in his eyes. “Is it…tasty?”
“A-Ah, yes! Delicious!” the guide responded with vigor despite seeming very confused by the question.
“Ah! Natsu!” Happy tugged on his arm repeatedly. “We gotta catch it!”
“Yes, well, if you’d like our extended travel package, we can provide guided tours and protection! And our gold package even provides a helicopter ride…!”
“Naw, we’ll just take the map, please!” Natsu requested instead with a confident grin, feeling only a little bit bad when the light abruptly fell from the guide’s eyes.
“Oh! Uh, only…the map? But, we have a discount on our extended silver, gold, platinum, and iridium packages; you wouldn’t want to miss out…”
“Nope! We’re fine! Camping is all about roughing it anyways, right? We’ll just take the map!”
“Well…fine,” the guide relented with a sigh of defeat.
In the end, the map technically wasn’t all that helpful, since there were no marked trails around here. The topographical stuff looked neat, though.
Natsu wondered whether the so-called “monster fish” was really a thing or not. Natsu’s seen far crazier things out there in the world, so it wasn’t like it couldn’t be real, but Natsu’s gut feeling said it might just a story meant to spook them. Ha, not that it would! They weren’t scared of any fish! But, the idea made Happy excited, so he’ll go with it. If there was a big fish of any kind in the lake, they’ll definitely catch it!
“Hey, I think I see something through the trees! Up ahead!” Happy announced after another hour of walking.
“Hmm? Ha, I think that’s it!” Natsu quickened his pace across the forest floor, noticing the break in the dense spread of trees just up ahead. In just a few more minutes, they were there. “Yes, here it is! Firefly Lake!”
“Yay!” Happy exulted into the air at the sight of the large, crystal-blue, very deep, very good for fishing lake, and then, promptly, released his wings and fell into the sand with a thump. The lake was surrounded by a nice, large beach—perfect for relaxing and also setting all their fishing stuff up on!
“Hehe, tired, buddy?” Natsu probed with a teased grin as Happy lay with his back to the sand and a blank stare at the sky.
“Yes, the walking was so long,” he groaned, though his voice turned chipper just as quickly as he sat up in the sand. “But we made it! And there’s no one else here—just us—so we really can have all the fish to ourselves!”
“Yeah, that’s right! It’ll be just you and me!” Just like they planned. They had, well, a lot of things happen at Fairy Tail recently, what with the Grand Magic Games, and missing seven years, but Natsu was fine with that, because at the end of the day, his friends were still okay, and he knew that as long as they were okay and they were together, they could take on anything! But…he also could tell that Happy was feeling a little tired from all of the stress, and maybe, Natsu felt that too, if only just a little teensy tiny bit. So, Natsu decided that they could use some good, non-world-ending time with just the two of them.
“That’s right!” Happy agreed. “We should start fishing right now! Or…maybe sleep because I’m tired…or we could explore! Or just sit here…and make sandcastles? Can we do that? Oh, but we need food! So we gotta go fish!”
“Hey, no worries, I got lunch right here!” Natsu took off his bag and started pulling stuff from it. “Here we are, a fish sandwich for you…”
“Ooh, really? Thank you! I’m starving!”
“…and a peanut butter pepper sandwich for me!”
Natsu gave Happy his sandwich and took a big bite of his own with a satisfied grin. Food always tasted even better than usual after hiking for a while—or fighting or running or something else like that.
“So Natsu,” Happy started to ask around a mouthful of fish, “what is our plan now?”
“Hmm…I don’t know.” Natsu hadn’t thought this far. He always preferred to just plan as he went, anyways, so in a way, just doing whatever and not having a plan was perfectly in line with his plans. “What do you want? You still need a break?”
“Hmmm…” Happy thought intensely on the matter. “How about…first a nap, and then we fish!”
Natsu laughed. “Sounds great!”
Later that day, after a short nap, Natsu and Happy started their fishing adventure for real. Just as promised, the lake really was plentiful in fish, so it wasn’t too hard to catch some. After Natsu got four and Happy got three, they called it quits for now.
“Wow, I bet we’re going to catch so many fish tomorrow! We should bring some back home, so we can eat them for a long time! Oh, and we can share with the rest of the guild, too!” Happy decided.
“Yep, sounds great!” A perfect plan! Wait, how were they going to get all the fish down off the mountain…?
They made their camp after that and found some firewood in the forest. Natsu then set it on fire with ease, and they started cooking!
“This fish is so delicious…” Happy drooled, eyes wide and sparkly. He probably would have said that about any fish, but yeah, they were pretty good.
The day quickly turned into night, the heat of the sun replaced with a cold chill, but still, it was cozy by the fire. Natsu lay with his back on the grass just outside of the sand, and Happy came in and snuggled his small form beside him.
“It’s nighttime, time for sleep…” Happy noted drowsily, all the activity quickly catching up to him. “Natsu, can you tell a story?”
“Sure, what about?”
“Hmmm…” he thought hard about it again. “Maybe the—no, we just did that one…how about Igneel? Can you tell me more about Igneel?”
Natsu had told Happy of every single story he remembered about Igneel—twice, three times, maybe even four times. He remembered how excited telling the stories used to make him—because he was sure that one day, Happy and Igneel were going to get to meet in person. And he was going to introduce Igneel to Happy and all his other friends, and show him how cool they were and laugh about how much bigger his family got while Igneel was away.
He…wasn’t so sure if that was ever going to happen, now. When he thought about finding Igneel before, he didn’t know just how long it had been since he had lost him. Knowing it had been four hundred years, and that there was a chance that the dragons really were all gone…well, telling the stories felt different now. But still, he didn’t mind telling them. He would tell them six times, seven times, maybe even eleven.
“Yeah…” Natsu smiled up at the stars. “Let’s see…there was this one time when Igneel was teaching me to read, but I got bored and decided to explore, so I snuck off when he wasn’t looking…”
“Oh, is this the one about the bees?”
“No, no, not that time, the other time.”
“So it’s when you climbed up a tree and then fell but Igneel caught you because he was watching the whole time?”
“No, no, not that one either!” Natsu shook his head. “The lake! I want to talk about the one with the lake, because, we’re by a lake right now!” Huh, did he really sneak off that often? But that was only for the reading lessons—he never did that with the magic lessons, not at all! “I ran to the lake and took my sandals off so I could wade in barefoot, and then! I stepped on something very weird. So I picked it up! And it was this golden coin, but there was a crab holding on to it at the same time, so I picked up the crab. And then, Igneel showed up, and he was like ‘what are you doing?’ And I was like, ‘it’s a coin! Where did it come from?’ So he just rolled his eyes and starting giving me a history lesson instead…”
+++
Happy wanted to try making sandcastles, so the next day, they decided to make sandcastles. It seemed like a great idea, since the lake had such a huge beach with so much sand, but unfortunately, it wasn’t quite the same as the beach beach. It wasn’t like the beach by the ocean. The sand was all dirty and silt-like and stuff, so it didn’t hold together all that well. Didn’t mean they couldn’t try, though!
Happy groaned in a bit of disappointed frustration when his castle collapsed in on itself. “Natsu…” he wailed, “I’m trying to make it wet and everything, but it’s not working! Is there a way to make it stay?”
“Huh…” Natsu thought about it, tapping his foot on the ground. “Well…” He wished his fire magic could help better here…he could like, make the sand so hot it became glass or something (was that how it worked?), but then it wouldn’t be a sandcastle. If his other friends were here, well, Gray would probably just use ice or not try at all, Gajeel could use iron as supports or something, and Erza might pound it so hard it would become like a rock… “Oh, that’s it! We just make it bigger!”
“Huh?”
“I mean, we can use big rocks to hold the sand up! And huge piles of sand, so big that they won’t fall apart because they’d be huge!”
“Uhhhh…I don’t get it…” Happy doubted. “But okay!”
“Yeah, I’ll go get rocks!”
It would be so big and cool! And it was! That got sand, and rocks too, and they kept building…even though in the end it wasn’t actually much of a sandcastle. It was more like a fortress, or a secret cave hideout thing. But it was cool!
And that’s what they did for the rest of the entire day.
+++
The next day, it was back to fishing for them. They really got going with it then, catching fish after fish, eating some and saving more. Natsu loved the challenging ones the most, the ones that kept pulling and tugging and maybe even jumped up into the air while he struggled to pull it in. Stuff like that was what really put a thrill to fishing. Natsu could go on doing that all day! And Happy could to. So they did! But Natsu did convince Happy that they should start throwing some back, because otherwise, they might really end up with more than what they could carry. Or more than they could eat.
So passed another day and night for them, followed the next day by doing a bit of exploring and hiking again, and then hanging out in their sand-rock fort. They then found a really big leaf and made a flag for the fort, and then they dragged in a couple more rocks to make cool little chairs for sitting on beside the fort. Natsu then sat and watched the birds fly overhead, up towards the mountains. Maybe one day, they’ll climb the mountains, too. Maybe they’ll even come here for a job or something. They could stop by the lake on their way to whatever it is they would be doing! Natsu wondered if the fort would still be there, by then?
They then spent the rest of the day fishing some more, and talking and telling stories.
“And then, Erza took out her biggest sword!” Happy described with vigor, retelling the event for which both Happy and Natsu were present as if Natsu wasn’t there, but Natsu didn’t mind one bit hearing it again. “And then, she swung!” Happy mimed the action with his paw, jerking the fishing rod as he did so. “And the bad guy screamed so loud and tried to run away, so Gray threw an ice lance at him, but he missed, so I dove in to stop him myself! And then, and then…” Happy tried to remember.
“Hmm, I think he said something like, ‘MWHAHAHA!’” Natsu mimicked the evil laugh—a really good impression, if he did say so himself. “’You’ll never catch me, NEVER!’ Like that?”
“Yeah, that! But I punched him! And then you came! And then, umm, and then we won! Yeah, So we all got to take a break and hang out at the museum together, except the museum was boring and only Lucy liked it—but Erza liked all the weapons and I think Gray read some stuff too—but yeah, then we got dinner together and I ate fish!”
“Yeah, cool! Was the fish good?”
“It was delicious! The very best! It was…hey Natsu, what did you eat that day?”
“Uhhh…” Natsu definitely did not remember that part at all. “Fire?” he teased.
“Well, I know that!” Happy laughed. “I mean for dinner! But I guess that’s fine if your memory isn’t as good as mine. I think you should try though—then you can think back whenever you’re hungry to all of your most delicious meals and you’ll taste them all over again…”
“Wh-WHOA!”
“Huh? Natsu!”
“I got ‘em!”
In an instant, Natsu’s relaxed half-lying-down stance was completely thrown out the window. He got a bite, and this was a big one. He was standing up, straining against the pole, struggling to keep from being swept off his feet and into the lake. He stepped back and kept reeling, until he found that his feet had started to slide across the dirt…
“Natsu!”
“I got it!” Natsu felt a determined grin slide across his face. This was going to be fun.
Happy dove in to help, holding the fishing pole to keep it steady. Natsu let the line slack for just a bit before reeling a little more, keeping it tight without letting it go so tight as to break the line.
“This fish is so strong!” Happy exclaimed with eyes of wonder. “It must be really big—”
And just as he said it, as if on cue, the fish turned upwards and leapt out of the water.
Happy let out an awe-inspired squeal, and Natsu laughed.
The fish crashed back down into the lake so hard, it splashed the both of them.
“That—that was—!” Happy stammered, mouth agape.
“That was huge, right?”
It was a great, big red fish, with huge bright orange fins and tail. It somersaulted through the air like it belonged in the sky. Natsu wondered if it might even be…
“It’s—it’s the Redtooth Crawler!” Happy declared. “The biggest fish in the lake! We found it! We really found it! Natsu, we have to catch it! We gotta show all of Fairy Tail! Oh, and that guide person too! And that village at the bottom of the mountain!”
The fish didn’t have any red teeth, like the story. Nor did it have beady red eyes, or any spikes on its back. But hey, it was big, and it was red, so close enough, right? “Yeah!” Natsu declared along with his friend. “It’s gotta be it!”
The fish tugged and pulled and leapt into the air yet again. Natsu felt his arms growing sore, but the grin remained. “We’re definitely showing all of Fairy Tail!”
“Don’t worry; I’ll help!” Happy went back to straining against the pole too, trying to keep it steady, his wings flapping in Natsu’s face. Natsu didn’t mind, though! He didn’t need to see the fish; it was all about feeling it.
“I think it’s getting tired!” Natsu declared, feeling the resistance go down, if only a little. Natsu was tired too but, well, he was a Fairy Tail mage! He wouldn’t let any fish get the best of him!
They kept going back and forth, back and forth. With each leap and splash, Natsu and Happy got more and more wet, to the point that they were completely soaked. Natsu’s determination stayed, but his grip began to loosen.
“Natsu, don’t give up! You can do it!”
“I…I…I got it!” Natsu yelled into the air, and he yanked.
The fish flew into the air again, this time led by the fishing line in its mouth, sailing over water and sand, and finally landing with a heavy thud on the beach.
Natsu made a thud on the beach, too. He collapsed into the sand, breath heaving, arms outstretched and limp and eyes up to the sky. They did it.
“You did it!” Happy declared with a burst of joy. “You really did it! You got the fish!”
“We…we did,” Natsu corrected with a weak smile. “We got the fish.”
“Aye! I knew we would find the biggest fish in the lake!” Happy made one last excited pump in the air before collapsing into the sand too. “That was so long…”
Natsu laughed. “You got that right, buddy! But we made it, right?”
“Yeah, now we can sleep…” Happy decided.
Natsu smiled again, squinting up at the sky and the sun just beginning to set. They were planning on leaving tomorrow, so this? This was the perfect ending. Not that it really mattered so much what they got to do; as long as they got to spend time together, it was a great vacation in his book. A perfect one.
“Hey, Natsu?” Happy asked.
“Yeah?”
“How are we going to bring the fish to Fairy Tail?”
Oh, he hadn’t thought about that part yet.
+++
They did bring the fish back to Fairy Tail—no problem at all! Well, maybe a little problem. But Happy was sure that they could do it, and they did! It just took them much, much longer going down from the mountain than it took getting up it. They had a lot of stuff to carry, and Happy did his best to help too! They had the camping equipment, and all the other fish, and then the big fish. So they kind of had to keep going back and forth, to get stuff and bring them down and then get other stuff and bring those things down. The big fish was hard, because they couldn’t just cut it up! They had to show it to everybody exactly as it was. They showed the people at the little town, and they thought it was cool. They thought it was so cool, they had no words to say how cool it was. They just stared with their eyes all big.
But for getting it the rest of the way home, they paid for a ride in a cart! Natsu got sick because a cart is a vehicle, but it was okay, Happy was there to watch after him and watch the fish, too. Happy would always be there to keep watch, no matter what.
“Hey guys! You’re back! How was your EEE-ACKK! What is that!?” Lucy yelped at the site of the massive fish, bigger than like, a thousand Happys put together.
“The Great Redtooth Crawler!” Natsu announced proudly. “I told you we’d catch it, right?”
“The…the what?”
“Oh, you’ve returned!” Erza appeared to greet them as well, nodding in approval to the cart full of fish and topped with the big fish. “Hmm, I see you’ve made a decent catch.”
“We made the best catch!” Happy added.
Natsu laughed. “Yep! It was a good trip!”
“Yeah!” Happy agreed. “We made sandcastle forts, and caught fish, and explored the mountains, and caught more fish, and um, um…told stories! It was the best!” With no work or anything at all to interrupt them! Happy was glad that he got to just hang out like that. Although, he was also really happy to see all his other friends again, too. He was starting to miss them. “Maybe, we should all go together sometime! Also, Lucy, why is part of your hair green?”
Lucy laughed nervously, fingers twirling the ends of her hair that didn’t have the weird glowy green streaks in them. “It’s…uhh…it’ll come out eventually.”
“Oh, yeah!” Natsu remembered. “You guys went on a job! How was it?”
“It went very well,” Erza replied with a satisfied nod. “We successfully defeated the Cockroach King.”
“Huh?” Happy tilted his head. He didn’t remember anything about a king when Erza talked about it back then.
“We…” Lucy laughed again. She looked very tired. Like the crazy loopy kind of tired. “We, uh, got paid, at least! Everything’s fine now…whoop whoop…”
“Heh, glad to know it went well!” Natsu said. “Hey! You know, if we cook this fish, we could make it like a victory meal for you guys, too! For beating up the Cockroach King!”
“Haha, sounds great…” Lucy agreed. “Hey, you know, a fishing trip does actually sound kind of relaxing—eh, or maybe somewhere with less bugs—but still. It’s a surprisingly attractive ‘maybe.’”
“Well, in that case!” Happy declared. “Next time, you’re definitely going to have to come along!” he decided. “And then, we’ll catch a fish even twice as big as this one!”
“Yep!’ Natsu agreed. “Sounds like a plan to me!”