Chapter One ~ The Gaining Of Power

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Wendysat at the bar of fairy tail, a thick chocolate milkshake in a tall glass decorated with a red a blue straw in front of her. She, every few moments, sipped at the chocolaty beverage before her. The young dragon slayer was not in the best of moods; an offhanded remark from a passerby commenting on her less that extensive range of attacking spells had caused this. Needless to say comments such as that were not all that good for her self confidence, which was already at a sensitive place because of her age.

She couldn't talk to anybody about her anxieties, she practically lived in this guildhall, and it had a plethora of strong mages in it with varying types of magic and power. Telling something sensitive like this to these people could be a daunting task, despite the fact she knew any and all of them would be more than happy to help her; although the help shed receive from some of them would not be all that useful.

"Wendy, you've finished milkshake." Mirajane spoke in her happy voice that managed to brighten almost everyone's day. "Do you mind if I take the glass from you?" Wendy looked down at the glass the oldest Strauss sibling spoke of, to see that the only liquid left was the small amount that hugged the centre ring of the glass's bottom.

"Oh, of corse Mira." Wendy blushed slightly, she had been subconsciously drinking the nothingness that was inside the glass. "Um, Mirajane, can I ask you something about when you didn't have any magic?"

The question caught the demon of guard. Most of the questions about her past, that were rare anyway, were about how she coped with the death of her sister; or why she chose to change her whole personality; or how she managed to cut off the animosity and rivalry between herself and her fellow S-class mage. Not once in her life had she been asked about her lack of magic that was sealed after what she thought was her sisters death. "Of corse, what about it?"

"Well." Wendy immediately regretted bringing up the topic, now she was cornered into asking her question. "You lost your magic, but before that you were really strong and in the public eye. Did you ever get judged on your magic power being gone?" The girl looked down at the bar, feeling bad for asking the question as she did so.

"Do you mean like people calling me weak?" The blue haired sky dragon slayer nodded shyly and couldn't look at the barmaid who stood in front of her. "Well, there was a few comments on me being weak, but mainly it was on my change of appearance. I started modelling a few years later and that's where all my attention came from after that. Why do you ask?"

"Well, I was coming back from a mission and two women were talking about dragon slayers. I overheard them talking about me, they said I was weak." By the end of her speech she spoke in a whisper. "I know I shouldn't let it get to me, but it hurt." She looked at the bar.

"Who were they?" Mirajane spoke in her normal voice, but the undertone of the words were laced with poison. "Tell he who they were and I'll find them and kick their heads in." The violent words that came from the angel faced girls mouth came as a shock to Wendy; she'd never seen her demon side first hand so this side was unusual behaviour to her.

"You don't need to do that. What they said was true, I'm not much help in fights." Mirajane frowned at Wendy; it was obvious the women who talked about her left the girl with some insecurity that she most definitely didn't need. She made a mental note to talk to warren about who had done this to her and tell them not to gossip about her friends.

"I should go home, I need to rest for a bit; the mission was a bit hard on me, a lot of healing was involved. I'll see you tomorrow, Mirajane." Before the barmaid could think of doing something to stop the sky dragon slayer, she had hurriedly slipped off the high bar stool and rushed out of the guild hall without another word.

Mirajane sighed, slumping on the seat she kept behind the bar for when she got tired or there was nobody at the bar to serve. She cared both all of her guild mates, but she was guilty of being overprotective of some. Needless to say, Wendy was in that section of mages. Freed also fell into that category, but for reasons more private and intimate.

The rune mage himself had just walked through the doors of the guildhall, passing the young girl in the process. He immediately noticed something wrong with her: a pace of walking slightly faster than her normal which suggested she wanted to get away a from something without paying attention to her goal; her face was angled to the floor slightly, something that hinted at either sadness of hiding something on her face; finally freed saw her face was slightly flushed and eyes holding the extremely faint remains of crying.

The handsome rune user walked over to the bar where Mirajane watched Wendy from and sat on one of the bar stools, ignoring the invitation of a drinking contest from the brown haired alcoholic next to him. "Is something the matter with Wendy?"

Mirajane wasn't shocked with Freed's words, anyone who knew him knew he could tell how someone was feeling with a mere glance at them; though he seemed particularly good at making people feel bad without knowing it, even once implying how the first master, named 'The Fairy Tactician' was able to miscalculate which made her cry. His punishment was to clean the guildhall alone after a particularly rowdy fight dressed as a maid; he swore Master Makarov must have some form of crossdressing fetish.

"Yes." Mirajane sighed. "Some people were talking about her not having many spells that can be used in fights and she heard. I think she thinks she's weak because of it."

"Not having a versatile spell set can be difficult to deal with, I can remember when I could only set up barriers and preform the spell 'Pain' which was considerably weaker than it is now. Though I have to say she doesn't seem weak, the magic power she showed in her fight in The Grand Magic Games was admirable, more so when you consider how she is predominantly a healer."

"I think that's the problem." Mirajane pondered. "She's a good healer and doesn't realise the advantage that gives her in battle. She probably thinks that winning fights mainly consists of raw power, which is a reasonable though considering she's close friends with Natsu, Erza and Gray." Mirajane stood up and picked up a glass from the bar. "I hope she feels ok."

"Maybe I could help her." Freed thought aloud. "From what you say, her main problem with her magic is how it's not very ranged when it comes to fighting. I'm sure a number of my fathers inventions could easily rectify her thoughts on that."

The father Freed spoke owned one of the most renowned magic item companies in Earthland, and he had an interest in making new ways to enjoy magic to its fullest. Currently, Freed knew, he was investing time and resources into a sword that adapts to whatever magic you have if it's element based.

"Yeah, that would work." Mirajane looked at Freed. "Which one though, I don't think he has any for Sky Magic, it's not exactly a common thing." The woman spoke truth, and Freed knew it well but he wouldn't let it deter him; he and Wendy had gone on many missions together when she first joined fairy tail and they were close friends so he would help the young girl I'm anyway he could.

"Don't worry, I already have the perfect thing in mind." Freed stood up. "I shall talk with the young woman now, I shall see you later Mirajane." He went to leave but as he dragged his hand of the bar while turning, an odd habit Mirajane has noticed years ago, the barmaid grabbed his hands.

"Don't be too long." She spoke in a flirty tone. "I have plans for you later tonight, Freed." To prove her point she dug her fingernails into Freed's boney hands, electing a slight intake of breath on behalf of the rune mage. He turned to look at Mirajane with a polite smile, the left side of his mouth raised higher than his left; his own sexy grin.

"I wouldn't dream of it, Miss Mirajane." And with that statement, and a demand for more beer form Cana, Freed walked towards the doors of fairy tail to follow the blue haired girl. Mirajane waved him off politely, not paying any attention to the drunk in front of the bar who was making remarks of their so called 'fucked up relationship'.

|_/)(-Time skip-)(\_|

Freed walked at a briskpace to catch up with the Sky Dragon slayer. She was still walking slightly faster than she normally would, but Freed's longer legs gave him the advantage of fast walking coming naturally. It didn't take long for him to spot the blue haired girl, the colour of her hair distinctive compared the bleak, rain soaked streets of the Magnolian January.

He slowed himself slightly as he caught up with her, his pace mirroring her own. Noticing the rune users presence, Wendy looked up to see her Green haired friends looking down at her with soft smile he didn't often use.

"Good afternoon, Wendy." He says politely. "Are you feeling alright, you seem to be a bit glum?" Freed knew Wendy would feel slightly betrayed by Mirajane if she knew she told him, so tried to avoids bring in up that she knew she was indeed sad and the reason for it.

"Mira told you, didn't she?" Well that solved that problem. Freed nodded to the young girl, who stopped walking and sighed lightly. "Do you think I'm right, am I weak?" Wendy knew Freed would be honest, he considered lying a waste of both time and words unless completely necessary for the situation.

"No, your incredibly strong." Wendy went to open her mouth, but Freed placed a finger on her lips to stop her. "From what Mirajane told me, you don't have anxieties about your magic power itself, but the lack of variation when it comes to attacking spells."

"So you think I'm not very versatile then?" Wendy looked down slightly, she knew Freed hadn't meant to make her feel sad, but somehow he had; though at that moment anything said about her magic could be thought of as insulting at that very moment.

"Wendy, when I joined Fairy tail I had no way to cause any damage to a foe unless I used my sword or preplanned and set up complicated runes; both of which weren't helpful as I was hesitant to use my sword and I couldn't write runes as fast as I can now. I do understand how you feel. I felt useless and weak, but I chose to learn new types of magic, mainly spells of darkness and demon summoning."

"I thought you let demons take over your body for a moment then you took control of them, that's what you told me before." The first time Wendy had seen the calm man turn into a demon it had shocked and scared her, so he explained what happened and how he was in complete control.

"I was starting out with translating at the time, I made the mistake of demon infusing being demon summoning. I later decided that having my body as one of the undead was more useful than summoning a demon that may or may not do as I say; so I infused my body with four other demons." Freed shook his head. "Anyway, what I'm saying is that maybe you'd feel better in yourself if you learn some more spells on attacking."

"I've tried that but I can't find any books on my magic, or really any types like it." Wendy sighed, both her and Carla had looked through a myriad of books, although the feline didn't support her cause as it would undoubtedly make her more reckless in fights; or so she thought.

"That's why I've come to talk to you. You may or may not know my father was the creator of many magical items that are specific to a wizards magic type. Well, his company made part device which Mens you can infuse any and all types of magic into a certain device. I was thinking that we could make some sort of magical item infused with sky dragon magics, it's most likely going to have some form of attack spell in it."

"You can do that?" Wendy looked up at Freed, who nodded at her wide eyes. "Thank you." She rapped her arms around Freed's stomachs in a hug, which he reciprocated with a few pats on the head.

"It's perfectly all right, Wendy. We could do it now, if your like; although if that's not I understand and we could do it another time." Freed was polite as normal, resisting the urge to smirk at the overexcited dragon slayer who stood before him with a wide and joyous smile on her face.

"Can we do it now?" She spoke in an exited tone that mirrored her facial expression. This did concern Freed slightly, she wouldn't be this exited if she had just thought of her supposed weakness, she had been thinking about it and hiding it for a considerable amount of time.

"Of we can, the machine is located at my home. It's a fairly long walk from here, so it would be easier if we simply teleported there. We don't have to, however, we can walk if you'd prefer."

"No, teleportation is fine." The young girl was extremely exited for her new powers and the faster she could gain them, the better. Freed chuckled at her, placing his hands on her shoulders and looking down at her face; which was confused at his actions.

"Close your eyes, teleportation can be surreal the first few times you do it, so it would be in your best interest to have your eyes closed." Wendy closed her eyes. "Dark Ecriture: Transportation." Freed spoke softly as his body and Wendy's dissolved into runic lettering, which carried them to Freed's home where they were put back together.

Wendy soon opened her eyes to see their new location, and immediately felt dizzy and nauseated. Freed guided her into the house and into the kitchen where he took out a bucket and places it on a wooden dining table. "You can be sick if you wish, it's understandable." Wendy nodded and placed her head over the bucket, Freed holding her hair back. After the sound of throwing up had stopped, Wendy lifted her head from the bucket.

"I'm sorry." She mumbled, looking at the tiled floor slightly. Freed lifted up the bucked of sick and carried it out of the kitchen and put it on the stone patio outside his house. "I didn't mean to."

"It's fine, I threw up every time I used it for the first month of having to the spell. And it's not as of the bucket was valuable in any way." Freed walked to the large windows and opened them, the faint smell of vomit still slightly in the air. "Now, do you feel like your ready to enchant an item with your magic yet?" Wendy's face it up again.

"Yes please." She was lead through the house, looking around it in awe. It seemed to be a Victorian style house, on the first floor that she was in she counted five rooms all connected via a hallway. The walls were white with a slight bumped texture, a continuos wooden plank seep rating the wall into top and bottom. "Your house is beautiful, Freed."

"Thank you." Freed smiled at the compliment. "It's an old farm house. My mother insisted that I have a home to move into when I came to magnolia and this is the one she chose for me. It worked out for the best, there's multiple spare bedrooms so if any of my team get into disagreements with their landlords they can stay here." Freed opened the door that led to his front garden.

It was a large open space with an average sized lawn of neatly cut grass, with a gravel driveway going to the side of it. Flowers and neatly trimmed based bordered the lawn. A barrier of trees kept the farmland from coming into contact with the road. What drew Wendy's eyes was a long, one story building made from stone and a thatched roof.

"What's that building?" Wendy asked inquisitively.

"That is where we're going. It's mainly used for indoor training, most of my exercise equipment is in there; treadmills, rowing machines, weighting benches and the such. It also is home to my fathers machine and the collection of items, books and other rewards from missions. I was thinking you could find something you'd like to use as the item that holds the spells."

"Wow, thank you." Freed found himself being hugged again, making him chuckle. He opened the large barn like doors and reached for a light switch. I'm the building was a large amount of machines that looked like exercise. There's was a door to the left which was closed. To the right of the main entrance was what seemed like an old stone oven.

"You can go through that door and look through the items I have, I shall set up the machine we'll need." He pointed to the door. "It should be unlocked." Freed then walked over the oven like thing and opened the metal grate door. He then began to do something which Wendy didn't know.

Wendy left Freed to do whatever he was doing and walked to the door he had spoke of. When she opened the door her jaw dropped. The room was filled with swords, books, bows, gems, crystals and so much more. Wendy's eyes were drawn to a rack of items that seemed to be decorated staffs. She walked to them and picked up one with a pale stick and large diamond top. The handle itself had golden swirls surrounding. It was strangle light, but when she flicked the diamond top she concluded it to be real.

When she walked out of the room, her mind made up, Freed looked over at the item she held. "So you chose one of the staffs in my possession." Wendy nodded. "All of them were gifted to me after catching a murderer after they had sent death threats to a rich man. All of the, have genuine crystals yet they weigh less than a broomstick. I think it's a spell. That one in particular has a thin coat of diamond over its handle, so it can be used as a melee weapon as well."

"Wow, it sound expensive. Are you sure it's okay for me to take it?" Wendy almost dropped the staff when she heard his description of it, it must be worth millions and she was holding it as if it were a toy. "I can go back and get something else a bit less expensive."

"No, I have no need for it. If I wanted to sell it I would have done so already, and it's not the type of thing I would use; so by all means you can take it for yourself." Freed chuckled. "Now, put it in here so we can begin the process." He signalled to one of the hollowed out areas of the oven like thing.

Wendy walked to the oven and carefully placed it in the hollowed out stone. "So, what do I have to do now?" She looked at the over, then at freed who was watching her patiently. The rune knight opened up the metal grate to the second hollowed out oven like stone. In the hovel was a red stone, placed exactly in the centre.

"This stone is connected to the machine. You have to use some of your attacking spells on this stone and it will scan your magic and create spells from it." Freed stepped out of the way. "I'd recommend you using three different attacking spells then one of your healing ones."

"So I just fire into there?" Wendy asks, looking at the hole. Freed nods. "Sky dragons: Roar." A large gust of winds comes from the girls mouth and goes into the stone. The wave of wind holds for about five seconds before dying down. "Was that okay?"

"You did it perfectly, Wendy. Now, are you up to preforming another spell immediately or could you do with a few minutest rest?" Freed worried, he knew a lot of things but the recovery rate of a dragon slayers magic was not part of that.

"No, I can do another one now." She stood back slightly, looking at the stone. "Sky dragon: Wing attack." A barrage of curved wind blades were flung to the stone, hitting it all times. This spell lasted for ten seconds, then died down.

"Do not strain yourself, if you need to rest then you can." Freed told the sky dragon slayer with a frown; her excitement didn't give her magic power and she might need to be reminded of that.

"No, it's fine. Two more spells should be fine." She looked over at the stone. "Sky dragon: Crushing fang." She ran at the stone and swiped her fist, a trail of wind coming from her fingers and hitting the stone. "Now, Sky dragons: Meld." The stone was surrounded by a soft yellow light that stayed for seven seconds and then goes down.

"Well done Wendy, now, the process of enchantment and infusing is a long one; taking about an hour to do so." Freed pulled a lever Wendy hadn't seen before on the oven. "If you'd like we can eat dinner, it's about the time for it."

"I wouldn't like to impose on you." Wendy spoke, squeaking slightly after the machine let off a burst of smoke.

"No, I'll be glad of the company." Freed smiled. "Is there any food you dislike or can't eat?" The rune mage started walking out of the barn conversion and to his house again, Wendy following.

"Um, well apart from winged fish I eat almost anything." Wendy's face went ever so slightly pale with the thought of tasting the disgusting winged fish that freed has made her before.

"What about a steak pie, mashed potatoes and gravy. Will that be okay?" Freed had a love of meat pies, so he always had one ready and he was more than happy with sharing it. English food was, after all, a loverly mix of flavour and guilty fat.

"That sounds loverly." Wendy smiled.

|_/)(-Time skip-)(\_|

Freed and Wendy walked back into the barn conversation again after eating their meal. Wendy was happy to admit Freed was a good cook, apart from when a certain flying fish was involved. The meal was also a welcome change to the take out food and junk food she'd been having of late.

Freed walked to the machine where the staff was and opened the metal grate door. He pulled out the crystal topped staff and spun it around his fingered expertly, then slammed it into the floor, cracking it slightly. Wendy looked at the wooden floor in shock.

"You picked a strong item, Wendy. I'm impressed." Freed tapped the crystal top and his eyes glowed green for a second before turning back into their usual colour. Freed clicked his fingers and a wall of runic text appeared. He placed his hand on the wall and the runes transformed into a language Wendy knew. "These are the four spells the staff knows and what they do. Three attacks and a healing spell. You can craft your own spells later on, but mastering the knees you have now is in your best interest."

"So four spells. Sky dragon: whirlwind. Sky dragon: Gale force. Sky dragon: typhoon. Sky dragon: gifted focus." Wendy listed the spells before her. "So, gifted focus is the healing spell, it sends a direct beam onto the target and it gives them magic owner and heals wounds and such. Whirlwind is two almost solid gusts of wind flowing in a spiral that cause damage to the target. Gale force: sends pulses of wind from around me and do damage to enemies but not allies. Typhoon: creates a shell of wind that has five layers of it, every time I want to a layer comes from it and does damage to enemies. It also works as a shield. These are stone spells."

"I'm glad you like them. If you'd like you can try them out, I have some targets outside for you to use." Freed knew that she wanted to use her newly gained powers, which was understandable as it was the equivalent of getting a new toy.

"Yes please." Wendy enthused, eyes sparkling. The two walked out of the building, this time going around it and behind it where five archery targets stood proudly, waiting for something to attack them. "So, how do I actually use this?"

"You simply point the crystal end of the staff at the target and say the name of the spell while channeling magic through your hands. The rest is done by itself. Though, your healing spells most likely won't work on them, so there's so point in trying it."

Wendy placed herself twenty metres away from the target and raised her staff to point it at the target. "Sky dragons: Whirlwind!" She shouted. Two large gusts of slipstream wind came from the staff and slit ales around an invisible axis. They shot off in the direction of the target and crashed into it, destroying it completely. "Oh gosh, sorry Freed."

"No need to apologise, Wendy, I knew these spells were strong. Besides, targets like these are no use to me. Destroying them is helpful to me. Now, to your next spell."

Again Wendy got in front of a target and held the staff in front of her. "Sky dragon: Gale force." Five pulses of wind came from the height of Wendy's staff, breaking two of the targets but not hunting Freed at all, as though the staff knew not to.

"Now, this one is different. You have to place your staff on the ground with the crystal facing the sky. After you've preformed the spell you can remove a layer of air by tapping the ground with it." Freed smiled at her.

"Sky dragon: typhoon." A spherical case of air surrounded them. Wendy tapped the ground with her staff, the thickness of the air shield thinned slightly, the targets getting hit by it. She tapped the staff on the floor four more times until the bubble of air had gone.

"You have some powerful spells in your arsenal now, Wendy. With some training you could make some amazing combination. I could help you train if you'd like, the Grand Magic Games are going to be in a few months and you'll probably be chosen to be on a team again." Freed smiled.

"Yes please." Again freed was hugged.