Dragon Heart Part 3 (Wendy & Keep Reading :P )
The young Sky Dragon Slayer walked up the mountain path, humming a peaceful tune as her Exceed companion complained about the mission they had just completed.
"I can't believe they didn't have all of the reward money that was promised! And they didn't even bother to do anything to make up for that!" Carla ranted on, the annoyance easily detectable in her voice.
"Well, they had just been robbed by pirates a couple days before we got there, so that's why they didn't have all the money. But they did say they would send it the guild when they raised it," Wendy defended.
"I don't care! It was still rude. They at least could have let us spend our night there for free or throw in a free breakfast," Carla replied, determined to make her point.
The pair walked on in comfortable silence for an hour or so, each sticking to their own little world and associated thoughts. But they soon had to snap out of it and give their full focus to the tough, narrow mountain path. The loose rocks made it easy to slip and it got so bad at one point that Carla had to fly them over the rundown path.
"What was wrong with the path we took to get to the town in the first place? You know the nice relaxing one that was a beach?" Carla asked after she had put Wendy down on less treacherous ground.
"The major said that there was a pirate ship sighting and he didn't want us getting captured," Wendy answered.
"So this way we risk being captured by mountain bandits? Much better," Carla said in annoyed sarcasm as she scanned the area.
Wendy let out a sigh. There was just no pleasing Carla. The two continued downhill this time, while talking about random things involving the guild and their guild mates. At one point, they got on the topic of Happy, but Carla quickly changed it, saying she didn't want to think of that simpleton.
At lunch, the two stopped at a small outlook that offered a beautiful view of the town they were heading to below them, the ocean on the left, and the rest of the mountain range on the right. Unpacking their lunch, they started eating, taking in the view. Halfway through lunch, the two felt the ground tremble. It was over quickly, but it had lasted long enough for the two to decide that lunch was over.
"What was that?" Wendy asked nervously. The sky, just moments ago was bright blue with lazy white clouds, was now turning dark. Lightning flashes lit up the clouds at random intervals.
"We need to get out of here," Carla said, grabbing Wendy's arms and sprouting her wings, ready to fly off to the town.
"Wait!" Wendy cried out over the booming thunder. "I hear something." Breaking lose from Carla's grip, Wendy ran down the path a ways before turning a corner and slamming head first into something furry.
Slowly, Wendy raised her head up. When her head was as far back as it could go, she saw the two gleaming red orbs. She screamed as she turned to run away, but mid-turn a giant hairy hand grabbed her. Carla rounded the corner to see Wendy in the air, heading straight for the monster's mouth.
"No!" Carla cried out as she sped toward Wendy. Somehow managing to squeeze her arm out of the death grip, Wendy reached out to Carla's extended paw. Their fingers barely touched as they screamed each other's names.
The monster closed the rest of the distance and was getting ready to drop the dragon slayer into his mouth when a lightning bolt shot down and struck him head on. Wendy blocked her eyes at the light and when she opened them again, the monster was completely unharmed, but it was shocked (pun intended :P ). It quickly recovered and stared furiously at Wendy.
That's when Wendy realized, she was still being held, but no longer by the monster. Wendy looked up at a somewhat familiar face.
"Laxus!"
But even as she said it, she noticed his run down appearance and ragged breath. He was exhausted, but he still managed a small smile before jumping off the monster's hand and to the ground below.
Not skipping a beat, he put Wendy on the ground, but still holding her hand, started running away, Carla in tow. They ran around multiple corners until they were out of breath and the monster was no longer in sight.
"What are you doing here?" Wendy asked between gasps of air.
"Taking them out, that's what my mission is. You?"
"Heading back to the guild," Wendy replied shyly.
"Did you say 'them'? Carla demanded.
"Yeah, but I already killed the others. This is the alpha. His fur is so thick and matted that it makes him impervious to my magic," Laxus said as he glanced over his shoulder.
"What do we do then, if it's impervious to your magic?" Carla asked.
Turning to Wendy, Laxus asked, "Think you could give me a couple boosts?"
They still couldn't even do more than scratch the thing, not with Laxus fully healed and given boosts in strength and speed, and now their lives were truly in danger. Serious danger.
All three of them were out of magic and out of time as the monster was walking leisurely toward their bruised and bloody bodies.
Wendy turned her head to see Carla, unconscious, leaning against the cliff side and Laxus, semi-conscious, sprawled out on the ground, about to be eaten by the monster. Despite the stabbing pain in various parts of her body, Wendy managed to drag herself up and over to Laxus.
"If you got the energy to move, them run away kid," Laxus called out weakly.
"No, I'm not leaving you here to die alone!" Wendy cried, her tears streaming down her cheeks on their way to the ground. The burst of energy was spent, and Wendy collapsed again, this time on the other dragon slayer, who let out a grunt of pain. Her tears still continued to fall. She cried at the situation and at her own weakness. If only I had been stronger.
Laxus watched her cry, but couldn't think of anything to say that would make the situation any better, so he just watched the monster, his eyes cursing its very existence.
Wendy continued to cry, but her tears had stopped. No longer were they falling and that caught her attention. As she calmed just enough to think about this, a single tear rolled down her cheek. As it fell in seemingly slow motion, she watched it grow brighter. She watched it fall; no she watched the glow it radiated, in a trance like daze. When it hit the ground, the glow transferred to her eyes.
Laxus turned back to Wendy only to be caught off guard by the serene look on her face and the glowing blue-white eyes.
"Wendy?" Laxus asked worriedly, "Wendy, answer me!"
Laxus heard her mutter something in a weird language and turning to Laxus, gave him a peck on the cheek. He felt his body tingle at the touch. And when that tingle spread throughout the rest of his body he looked down to see that it was rapidly disappearing. His arms and legs were almost all gone. He watched as parts of him broke off and floated up a ways before disappearing, like the embers of a fire in the night. Despite this, he felt no fear or worry. In fact, he felt free, liberated from his pain.
The last thing he saw was the monster's face. It sensed the magical power growing within Wendy, and that translated to fear, which was easily read on its face.
Laxus woke up the next day, leaning against the mountain side. Somehow he had left the mountain trail and was at its base, closer to the town. Shaking his head slightly to clear it, he found that he couldn't recollect what happened after the last glimpse of the monster's face. Wendy!
Looking left and right, Laxus didn't see her or the Exceed, until he felt a weight shift on his leg. He looked down to the peaceful face of Wendy and Carla, curled up together and using his leg as a pillow. A small smile spread itself on his face as he heard a loud snorting noise of a snore come from Wendy.
Wendy opened her eyes to find herself looking up at the white roof of the guild infirmary. Blinking a couple times, she slowly crawled out of the bed and made her way to the door. When she opened it, a loud cheer ran through the guild as everyone yelled and started bombarding her with questions.
Laxus, sensing Wendy was being overwhelmed, silenced the guild with one of his signature bad boy glares. Mira sat a plate of breakfast down next to Laxus and ushered her over, telling her she needed to regain her strength.
"So, Laxus told us the story of how you saved his sorry ass," Natsu stated, not noticing the small charges of electricity that Laxus produced at this statement. "So, since you used Dragon Heart on Laxus does that mean you two will be a couple like us?" Natsu teased as he tilted his head in the direction where Gajeel and Levy sat together and where Lisanna sat, waiting for him.
As one, Wendy spat out her eggs and Laxus his orange juice. Everyone started laughing as Wendy's face turned beet red and at Laxus's slight blush.
Recovering, Laxus casually stated, "No way, she snores waaayyyyyy to loud for my taste," he said as he started to imitate her snorting sound.
"I don't sound like that!" Wendy said, her face still red. Actually she knew she did, Carla told her once, but she didn't want everyone knowing that.
"Oh, you're right," Laxus said, "it's much louder." He then started to make the snorting noises again, this time louder.
The guild busted out laughing again, and soon Wendy couldn't help but join in, thinking to herself how much she loved this place and its inhabitants.