thanks for the memories
Characters: Wendy Marvell, Cana Alberona, Laxus Dreyar, Romeo Conbolt
Summary: A loved person always leaves a trace.
Wendy Marvell, a sixteen year old mage of Fairy Tail, had enough
She had skipped from bar to bar for three days in a row now, searching for the criminal she had been hired to arrest. Yet bars still made her uncomfortable for multiple reasons. First of all, the patrons were usually rather drunk and while she should be used to this from the guildhall, her nakama made never the sort of comment she had had to endure the entire week. Secondly, she had not been able to bring Charle for the job which made her even jumpier. Thirdly, the outfits Mira-san had given her for the job were rather uncomfortable and far too revealing to the level that they made her feel cheap. And finally, bars reminded her of Cana, her nakama who had disappeared and this always hurt because she could use the older woman's expertise right now. Wendy had never felt as uncomfortable with Cana around because the card mage had been like an older sister.
But Cana had vanished without a trace three years ago, leaving behind nothing but questions and angry accusations between the others. Wendy remembered just too well how Gray had thrown Macao through a wall but this was because they all hurt and because they all missed their friend. Even Gajeel who had not been best friends with the brunette had voiced a certain discomfort at the lack of Cana in the guildhall.
But this was not the time for depressed thoughts because Wendy had a job to do. There were only a few bars left and as it had been said that the wanted criminal was a regular in one of the bars, he would be caught sooner or later. A little shaky on her heels, she walked down the road that led to a bar called Fortune's Fontaine. She blinked twice as she entered because the bar seemed to play around with the theme of magical card quite a bit. There were ancient cards one exposal just like copies of rare modern ones. It was like the entire bar had been designed to remind Wendy of Cana because there had been a time when she had sat at the table with the brunette, watching her how she dealt out cards too get insight into the future.
The young mage pushed her way through the crowd and sat down at the counter before she ordered a glass of orange juice and took the newest edition of the Weekly Sorcerer from her bag, skipping the page that still held the poster Reedus had designed right after Cana had gone missing. It was a bittersweet realisation that the older mage obviously was a master of hide and seek. She then proceeded to scan the area but once more, the criminal was not here yet.
"Aren't you a little too young to go out all alone?" the barmaid asked worried as she handed over the drink, true concern written into her eyes.
"I am sixteen," Wendy said, maybe a little bit too defiant because the lady frowned. "Are you the owner?" she added with an afterthought, maybe to apologise in advance for any damage she would cause once she would enter the fight.
"Wha- no, I am not. The owner is out tonight again, running some errands and dealing with unfinished business. It's such a shame that you missed her though. She has a soft spot for young travelling woman and likes to give advice," the woman shrugged.
Wendy nodded, utterly unimpressed before she scanned the crowd once more in hope to find her target, still without success. And so, after drinking her juice, she left the bar, musing about the fastest way to get to the next bar.
She was gone.
She had been away for a long time, for a long enough time that even the last trace of her scent had faded away and that the stain of her lipstick on the bathroom tiles was no longer visible – technically at least because he still saw the stain. The ruby red had painted his senses red, had set it afire. But this had been three years and a betrayal ago. When he heard Gray and Erza discuss whether they should go and look for her once more, he did never join the conversation even though it was long overdue that he commented for multiple reasons.
He had been the last one to see her, as much had he admitted already, and he was the current guild master in charge because his grandfather's health had suffered greatly under Gildarts' angry accusations and everyone's gossip about how Makarov should have seen this coming.
This was so unfair and he hated her for doing this to the guild, to his grandfather and himself. It was strange how unfamiliar she seemed now, three years after the day her apartment had been empty, three years after kisses under the starry sky, three years after laughter and dances.
The pain was bittersweet at best and he was ever so tired of the way the guild dealt – or rather not dealt with her absence. If he had to hear another song either Gajeel or Mira dedicated to the missing woman, he would scream and destroy the guildhall – and all the instruments. If Erza would ask him one more time whether he knew why she had done this to them all, he would find ways to get rid of the other S-class mage – maybe even permanently. Because this was the end.
He could not longer live in a dream where he watched how she took off her makeup after another long day. The reality was the one where he tore apart the books she had left behind and where he ripped photographs that showed her into tiny little pieces. He was angry at her because he had trusted her and she had betrayed this trust the very day she had vanished, leaving no trace the dragon slayers had been able to follow. He had no space in his place for her anymore, no reason why a woman who had sneaked away like a thief in the death of night should be still there.
He watched how Gray and Erza managed to get Natsu and Lucy involved once more – Juvia was always willed to look for her missing friend – just like Wendy who was on another solo job, once more without Charle but with the determinate look on her face that made it obvious that she was working for her own goals right now.
Sometimes, he wanted to tell them that there hope was pointless but when he saw Wendy and her determination to bring her home, no matter how much it would cost, or Juvia's gritted teeth whenever she talked Gajeel into joining them once more, he could not say it aloud. She had always been one to get what she wanted – because she had fought for it – but just too often, she had broken what she had gotten beforehand. She was bad news but this was nothing the others would want to hear even though getting away as fast as possible would be smart - otherwise, the pain would tear them to pieces – just like it had happened to him.
But when he was entirely honest, he was angrier at himself than at her. She had been a trickster from the start, a card mage and fortune-teller who had never been above playing against the rules when it had been necessary for her own interests. He had known this. He had known that it was dangerous to trust her, to let her get too close because she had always panicked when the distance had been too small because she had been scared of getting hurt once more.
Thus, he should have known better. When Erza had – unconsciously – implied that her departure might have been his fault, he had flinched back because this was true. He had made huge promises, promises he would have kept if she had let him but she had not.
And this left him with the question whether she had accepted his promise that he would always, always get her back home back then when they had been walking through the huge town after the king's banquet when he had carried Wendy while she had hummed a little song.
He had every intention to keep the promise – but to keep it, he had to find her first. "Don't get too arrogant, Fortune Teller," he muttered under his breath. "But I can and will find you … just watch me, yeah? You will be back where you belong soon enough … that's a promise."
"Wendy Marvell of Fairy Tail?" an unfamiliar voice asked as she stepped away from the bar.
She looked up, failing to be truly surprised as she looked straight at the criminal she had been looking for. This sort of job always had a good chance that the target would come to end the mage's search by attacking him or her. So she nodded slowly. "Yes?" she replied, excitement running through her veins as she slipped into a fighting stance. "What can I do for you?"
The fight started but the man was not exactly on the sky sorceress' level. After having casted support spells for far too many years, she had lately focused on her offensive moves, working on her secret goal. She ripped apart the man's defence like it had never existed in first place but then, right before she could finish the fight and arrest him, his hand lashed out and the force of her punch threw her backwards.
"Oi, oi."
The new voice was familiar without a doubt but for a moment, Wendy could not place it. The criminal was taken aback and this allowed the newcomer to place a punch. Then, as the woman straightened up a little, wild black hair concealed her face. She wore a blue shirt over a white top and simple brown pants. Like Wendy, she had chosen heeled shoes but happened to be better at walking and running in them as she easily kicked the man into the face, knocking him out.
As she swung her leg back into a normal stance, her t-shirt moved and revealed a black guild stamp on her stomach, marking her as a mage of Fairy Tail.
And then, Wendy understood.
This was Cana.