Present Day

Nashi:

I pried my crusty eyes open, waking from my slumber. I felt something next to me move, when I looked over my shoulder I saw Storm. I started blushing pretty hard when I noticed his arm draped across my shoulder. Last night when I told him my story, we ended up moving to my tent to keep talking. We must have fallen asleep while we were talking.

It may have looked like... something else. BUT TRUST ME WHEN I SAY IT WASN'T!! 

Not wanting to wake him up, I crawled out of my sleeping bag as quietly as I could and crept out of the tent. When I got out of the tent, I was welcomed by the smell of bacon and eggs. 

"Good morning," Levy greeted with a smile. She was tending to the frying pan holding fresh eggs and bacon over the open fire. I stood up and walked over to the fire, trying to warm up as best as I could. "Did you sleep well?"

"Yeah I guess," I yawned. Levy flipped the bacon one more time and slid the food on a paper plate and handed it to me. I gratefully scarfed down the breakfast getting a strange look from Levy in the meantime. 

"You inhaled that pretty quickly..." 

"I was hungry,"

"Okay..."

"Where are Gajeel and Lily?" I asked.

"I'm not really sure," Levy confessed. She looked out at the forest surrounding our camp, a slight look of worry on her face. "They went out in the woods an hour ago, I'm starting to get worried,"

My eyes narrowed and scanned the trees surrounding us. Even in my time, it wasn't like Gajeel to disappear for a long period of time without telling anyone. The fact that he didn't even tell Levy was also concerning. 

I stood up from my seat and walked to the edge of our base camp. All of my dragon senses were on high alert, I could see, smell, and hear everything around me. Suddenly, I heard a twig crack on the other side of our camp. I whirled around to see Gajeel and Lily walking back into view carrying a bucket of water and some water jugs for all of us. They stopped in front of the tent where Storm was sleeping and raised an eyebrow. 

"Where have you been?" Levy scolded.

"Tch, relax shrimp. Just went to get some water," Gajeel groaned. 

"Tell me where you're going next time!" Levy shouted, throwing her frying pan at the iron dragon slayer. Gajeel caught the pan in his hand out of reflex giving her a look that said, 'are you serious'

Finally, Storm crawled out of the tent rubbing his eyes and yawning. Gajeel dropped the frying pan making Storm jump back to avoid being hit by the falling pan. "This isn't exactly what I had in mind for how I'd be getting my breakfast,"

"Get up and get movin' we're leavin' now," 

"Now?" I inquired. 

Gajeel smirked. "Yep, I found somethin' worth our attention,"

A few hours later and we had packed up our campsite and we were on our way again. We walked along the base of the mountain for a few more miles with no sign of our missing comrade. 

"Ugh, my feet hurt," I complained. "Honestly can't Gale just meet us halfway,"

"Quit complainin' Sunshine," Gajeel argued from the front of the group. I stuck my tongue out at him behind his back. Stupid metal muncher. Just then a huge metal club came back and slammed into my head making me bite my tongue. I nearly screeched at the pain "Respect yer elders kid," Gajeel growled. 

"Why you!" I shook my fist in anger.

"Guys look!" Levy pointed out. Far ahead of us, a group of men were gathered outside the mouth of a cave. They all wore masks covering the lower half of their faces and black cloaks. 

"Bandits," Storm surmised. We all grinned deviously at the unsuspecting group ahead of us. If our hunch was right, Gale would be here any minute now to kick their butts. All we had to do was wait. 

- - - - - - - - - - -

A few days later:

"It's been days! Where the hell is Gale?" I groaned. In the days that had passed, we set up another camp not far from where the bandits were camped. Levy put up a barrier around our camp that kept us hidden from snooping eyes. It allowed us to be as loud as we want and set up whatever camp we wanted without being seen or heard, so long as we stayed inside the barrier that is. 

"Just be patient, she'll be here," Storm offered. We were sitting at the edge of the barrier keeping watch on the bandits in case Gale did decide to show up. 

"I'm getting tired of waiting, I want some action," As if on cue, a shout rang out from inside the bandits' cave. Storm and I jumped to our feet, ready for action. "Is it her?"

There was silence as Storm and I listened intently to the sounds coming from the cave. There were no longer any shouts coming from inside the cave. We watched and listened for a few more minutes with no activity from the bandits. 

"False alarm," Storm offered. He sat back down, an annoyed expression on his face. I narrowed my eyebrows and concentrated. There had to be something more to it than what we witnessed. I took a step forward.

"What do you think you're doing?" Storm grabbed my sleeve, preventing me from taking another step. "If you step through the barrier they'll see you,"

"I gotta get a better look inside that cave, something's not right," I yanked my sleeve out of his hand and stepped through the barrier. Before anyone could spot me, I quickly leaped into the branches of a nearby tree. Some of the bandits must have heard me because they looked over to where I was originally standing. 

As swiftly and quietly as I could, I made my way through the trees. There were only a few bandits guarding the mouth of the cave, although there were undoubtedly way more on the inside. There. I was in the trees directly above the bandit guards. Taking a deep breath, I let go of the branches holding me up. "Sun dragon wing attack!"

Waves of sunlight spiraled around as I fell from the tree line. The bandits looked up in shock too late to counter. The attack sent them flying into trees and rocks rendering them unconscious. A quick glance inside the cave and I could see no one residing directly inside the cave's walls. Good, reinforcements won't be coming for a little while. 

"You're going in there aren't you?" Storm inquired. I nodded.

"Something about this doesn't sit well with me,"

"Well whatever it is, we'll figure it out. Even if it's nothing,"

"I'll bet 40 jewel it's something," I smirked.

"I'll take that," Storm determined. We bumped our fists together, sealing the bet and moved into the cave.