"Wendy!"
The scream echoed around the square, and frightened citizens banged shut their shutters in fright and cowered with their loved ones. Severe magic pressure slammed hard on the buildings' foundations, causing them to creak and shift.
Outside, wizards were running back and forth in terror. The pavement was cracked, and battle-hardened mages were spooked. The Magic Council's soldiers were on the scene, shouting to each other and wielding their magic staffs.
All this commotion for a little girl.
"Wendy! Snap out of it!" A blonde woman with luscious brown eyes called out again. Her hands clenched around a magic golden key, in the shape of a heavy-bladed axe.
"It's no uuuuuuse, mistress Lucy!" Taurus, her Celestial Spirit bellowed with alarm. "Her magic is spiraling out of control!"
Lucy winced, biting her lip, as magic currents with the force of tidal waves washed over her. Behind her stood Natsu, both arms braced over his face to keep the magic from pushing him away. His normally merry face was carved with worry.
"Kid!" Gajeel thundered. "Stop this at once!"
The two Dragonslayers, as well as the rest of the Fairy Tail guild, were absolutely bowled over by the unleashed power of a young lady, a certain Wendy Marvel.
Wendy was now at the blossoming age of eighteen. This was the age when most mages receive a certain boost, a spike in their magic power, similar to the physical kind one receives in growth spurts. Wendy received her peak of magic, and it was disastrous.
Carla, pearly white wings flapping diligently against the wind, watched in horror as the sweet little girl she practically raised turned glittering icy eyes at them, her newest prey.
Shining white scales covered her skin, almost completely. Her hands could not hold still, making constant swirling patterns that caused the hurricanes that rocked the town. But her demon-like eyes were the loudest testimony to her nearly lost sanity.
"Her dragon magic is nearly out of hand." Levy breathed, Gajeel's arm wrapped solidly around her tiny waist. She flipped through another page in her tome. "It will consume her unless we can bring her back to reality!"
"That girl has got some serious PMS issues." Laxus growled, feet braced on the wildly churning earth.
Apart from the action, a young wizard with raven hair and serious eyes stood watching Wendy's transformation with a worried but firm expression. "Today was the day that Gradeeney first left her." He said just loudly enough for the rest of the wizards to hear him.
"Really, Romeo?" Natsu turned to him with a surprised look. "She told you that?"
Romeo shrugged. "When we were out for dinner a few days ago, yeah." His faint blush cued Lucy about his feelings for the Sky Dragonslayer.
Natsu, even after all these years, still had zero sensitivity whatsoever. "That's only something you tell a really close friend, or a lover! Wendy obviously-ooofff." Lucy had elbowed him hard in the ribs.
Mirajane, who was hiding behind Elfman, suddenly perked up at the idea of one of her matches becoming a couple. "Talk to her, Romeo!" The white-haired wizard screamed across the courtyard. "Maybe she'll respond to you!"
Romeo looked aghast. He looked back at the crazed girl in the center of the square, her hair whipping across her face and the shiny scales glittering in the sunlight. He saw the snarling dragon outside, but remembered the laughing girl within. His hands turned into fists. "I'll do it."
As he made his way towards Wendy, several soldiers yelled at him to get back, but then their captain saw his guild mark, and gestured them back. "That kid's better qualified at handling this than you or I." He rumbled.
Romeo struggled forward, one arm held in front of his eyes, which were already watering from the sheer cutting winds. This is what happens when the winds turn against you, he thought, when the gentle breeze becomes a tornado, when the playful gust becomes a typhoon.
"Wendy," He called. The dragon snapped her head to glare at him. Something in her eyes registered faint recognition. "It's me, Romeo." The Flame Wizard continued with an encouraging smile. "Your guildmate. Your friend."
She hissed softly, and he held out a hand, palm up, to show that he meant no harm. "It's okay. No one's here to hurt you." His voice was a soothing murmur, such as one would adopt with a frightened creature.
White winds swirled around them, and Romeo felt a twinge of pain in his left side, followed by worrying warmth. Still, he forged towards her. "Wendy." He repeated, almost a plea, yet the words held an edge of command.
Finally, after an eternity of the cutting wind, the dragon's eyes focused on his. The tornado subsided the slightest bit. "Ro…meo." The dragon spoke hesitantly, her voice hollow.
Romeo smiled encouragingly. "That's right. I'm here to take you home. You're safe. You have friends who care for you. Let's go back to the guild…." He reached out for her scaly hand, mere centimeters from his own. "…and have a bowl of Mira's stew together."
All around them, everyone watched with fearful anxiety.
The dragon-girl's mood changed from dark consuming wrath to a strange, oceanic grief that had no bottom. "I…WANT….GRANDEENEY." Her voice came out as a wail of pain, and tears of silver streaked down her face. "I…WANT….MY…MOTHER…BACK."
"Me too." Romeo admitted gently. "I wish that every year. So do all of us here." Now he was holding both her hands, massaging them, dimly aware of the increasing pain in his left side. "She's still with you, in your heart. She wouldn't want you to mourn like this, would she?"
Wendy, for now it was Wendy's eyes that were half shut in sobbing, dropped to her knees. The bracing torrent of air that had been so vicious before died down to a humming breeze, stirring the women's hair and the men's coats. "Romeo…"
The wizards of Fairy Tail let out sighs of relief, while the Rune Knights clustered together to discuss the next course of action. Citizens peeked cautiously out of their un-shuttered windows.
Natsu walked forward to Romeo, who was still holding the unconscious Wendy tight. "Nice job, Romeo." He praised heartily. "You have a knack for subduing dragons!"
"What's that supposed to mean, you big dummy?" Lucy whacked at him gently, rushing forward to Romeo. "You alright?"
The Flame Mage didn't reply, and when Natsu bent down to put a hand on the boy's shoulder, he reeled back, for dark and sinister blood was pooling everywhere onto the ground.
O.O
Wendy awoke to the sounds to bustling and panic, bodies moving in her peripheral vision. She wondered dimly where she was.
"Stop the bleeding!"
"At least pull out the shrapnel first!"
"No, leave it in, that's gonna keep him from bleeding to death."
"Nuh-uh, you take it out! It's going to get infected!"
Wendy sat up unsteadily, hand going to her forehead, her head a dizzy foggy mess. "Um…"
"Finally you're awake." Gajeel sat next to her with arms folded, eyes dark and agitated. "Now move along. Your lovebird is bleeding all over the ground and we don't have your healing powers."
"My who?" Wendy mumbled, still unclear to what had happened. Carla landed on her shoulders, pearly white wings flapping like a bird in a mating frenzy. "Romeo was wounded when he tried to….stop you."
"Romeo?!" Wendy bolted upright, turning her head frantically around to look for the Flame Mage. She finally spied him, lying prone on Mirajane's lap, blood clotting his side. The other wizards were pressing makeshift bandages to the wound, arguing worriedly with each other.
Lucy spotted the frantic Dragonslayer, and lit up. "Wendy! You're awake! Please—"
She didn't have to ask twice, as Wendy practically flew to Romeo's side, hands already outstretched with tendrils of unsteady though luminescent magic tendrils unfurling from her fingertips.
Romeo cried out as the magic entered his side, his body going into spasms until Natsu and Laxus held him down firmly, the older man shoving a rag in between his teeth to keep him from biting off his own tongue.
The healing magic was wild and unchecked, its crazed state barely managing to bind together the cleaved muscles, to correct the shredded tissue. The magic was so violent both Mirajane and Lucy had to work together to pull a frantic Wendy off Romeo as soon as the healing was complete.
Both teens gasped for breath, both teens reached unconsciously for the other, collapsing into a fierce embrace as they shook with emotion, gripping each other tightly as muffled sobs drifted into the air.
Laxus pulled Natsu away, a very small smile gracing his chiseled features. The younger man looked peeved. "Why ja pull away? Romeo's still shaking! He could've be going into another spasm!"
The Lightning Dragonslayer stared deadpan at the bristling Natsu. "I'll just say that with your current IQ, it was a miracle you managed to get Lucy to agree to matrimony."
A/N: Aaaah the feels (I blame Hiro Mashima for my current state of fangirlness. What's with all the last few FT chapters, eh, Senpai?!)