A/N: This oneshot is set in the Sabered Sky universe. If you haven't read that, I highly recommend you at least read the first 3-4 chapters of it to fully understand the setting of this oneshot. Now, for those who have read Sabered Sky, this is basically what Sting and Wendy were discussing at the end of chapter 4, where Sting takes on a job without his comrades, resulting in a lot of stress for those he left behind.
Enjoy!
Being promoted to S-Class was a big deal to Sting. Well, everyone was expecting it, but it was still exciting. At the young ages of 15, he, Wendy, and Rogue all earned the god-like title after completing a series of simple tests (simple to Sting, at least). With their trio now officially made up of S-Class wizards, Sting knew that the Triple Dragons were invincible.
So when an S-Class request came for the 3, Sting, being the most eager member of the team, was the first to see it. He may or may not have woken up extra early just so that he could be the first to look at the job requests.
"A sea monster, eh?" Sting smirked at Lector as he took off the request flyer from the bulletin boards, "This'll be easy!"
Lector nodded in agreeance, "You'll knock that thing out in one blow, Sting-kun!"
Sting ran to the barmaid, "Lector and I are going on this quest!"
"That one is S-Class," the barmaid pointed out, "and it requests all three of the Triple Dragons."
Sting brushed that off, "They're still sleeping. It'll be easy! All S-Class wizards can take on S-Class missions by themselves, right?"
The girl sighed and nodded, knowing Sting wouldn't stop until he got his way. "Just be carefu-"
"Arigatou!" Sting yelled, charging out the door with Lector before the girl could even finish her sentence.
"Good morning, Rogue!" Wendy happily greeted her comrade as she grabbed food from the counter of the bar. He gave her a smile and nodded back to her. "Have you seen Sting around?" the Sky Dragon asked. Rogue shook his head, much to the girl's displeasure.
"He left a note that he went on a mission with Lector. Said it will be pretty quick." Rogue divulged, remembering the note Sting left in their shared apartment.
"I guess we'll have to wait to take our first S-Class mission together," Wendy sighed. Orga, coming from behind the girl, patted her head in comfort.
"Don't be so down," Orga told her, "there will be plenty of S-Class missions for you to take everyday."
Wendy gave a smile as Orga released her head. "Arigatou, Orga-san."
"I don't remember Sting taking one of the requests over there," Rufus walked up to the group, "All of the regular job requests are still there. None of them were taken, and I do not recall new ones coming in."
Wendy and Rogue gave each other a concerned look. New job requests don't come in until the afternoon, and it is only 9. If Sting didn't take a request from the regular job board, then…
"He WHAT?!" Rogue, Wendy, and Carla all exclaimed in disbelief. Frosch, who was jumping around, stopped to see what was going on. The rest of his group was talking to the barmaid, who was hiding behind the counter at their response.
"I can't deny S-Class wizards to take S-Class requests…" she explained, blushing from embarrassment and shaking from fear.
Carla sighed, "I knew he was irrational, but this? This just makes him a fool."
"Where is the job?!" Wendy asked worriedly, already preparing to head out and chase after him.
"I-I don't know," the girl sadly revealed.
"What do you mean you don't know?!" Rogue asked her, angry at himself for not stopping Sting.
"It came in last night once word got out you guys were promoted. I didn't get to add it to the book of requests and I forgot to mention that to Sting. It requested all 3 of you and-"
"If it requested all three of us," Wendy interrupted, "then it's nearly impossible to do alone."
"G...gomenasai…" the barmaid apologized out of fear.
"It's not your fault," Rogue calmed down, sighing, "Sting should not have even looked at the S-Class requests without us. You were just doing your job."
"Fro mo sou omou!" Frosch agreed, reaching out his hands to give the once scared girl a hug.
Wendy remained silent as she looked out the door of the guild building.
'Please come home…' she thought.
Sting wiped blood from his mouth as he whispered, "White Drive," and let his power grow.
"Sting-kun…" Lector, on the verge of tears, murmured.
"Let's go, you freak!" Sting yelled out as he charged at the sea monster, which really just was a huge, green octopus with fangs and sharp tentacles. "White Dragon's Holy Breath!"
Sting released the large amount of power from his mouth as the octopus took the hit. The attack managed to almost split the ocean apart, but didn't put a scratch on the monster. Lector flew his partner around the monster, making sure to keep him out of range from the creature's tentacles.
"Lector, let me hit em from the ground," Sting instructed. Lector reluctantly listened, placing the White Dragon on the ground.
"White Dragon's Divine Fist!" Sting yelled, igniting his fist in light as he jumped into the air and punched the monster with all of his strength. The creature gave a cry of pain before swinging its tentacles to Sting. As Sting was hit, the sharpness of the tentacles cut him, leaving a gash on his right hip. Sting held the wound in pain.
"I don't need healing…" he convinced himself, but his thoughts said otherwise. This wound can easily be infected, and landing in the water will definitely make it worse. He needs healing. He needs her.
"Sting-kun!" Lector caught the falling Sting, crying. Sting forced himself to stay awake. He looked at the monster, his anger rising.
"Bastard…I really liked this vest," Sting snarled, referencing his fur vest that was now cut open from the attack.
"You have 20 more at home…" Lector said offhandedly.
"Lector, we're gonna finish this guy off before sunset," Sting declared as he took off short shirt and tied it around his waist to stop the bleeding. Lector nodded and began to fly toward the sea monster. As his speed began to rise, Lector dropped Sting, allowing him to kick the monster right in the face.
"Wendy, how long will you keep staring out the door?" Carla asked, looking at her friend. Wendy just sat at a table, her face resting on her hand as she impatiently tapped on the table.
"The sun is already setting," Wendy announced, observing the pink sky.
"Those missions can take days to complete," Carla reminded her.
A silhouette of a figure on an Exceed appeared in the distance. Wendy immediately got up from the table and ran outside. She internally prepared the lecture she was going to give Sting, knowing he was probably injured in some way.
However, it was not the White Dragon in the sky. It was Rogue and Frosch. They departed that morning to search for Sting. Wendy's face, once filled with hope, was overtaken by disappointment.
"We couldn't find them around the area. They're probably pretty far," Rogue told his teammate. Wendy slowly nodded and walked back into the guild building. A hand placed itself on her shoulder, stopping the girl. "He'll be okay. We've both seen how powerful he is."
"You better be right, Rogue…"
The doors to the building, which were closed due to the late hour, burst open. Everyone got up from their seats to see what was going on.
"SOMEONE HELP!" Lector's voice screamed.
"Lector!" Carla acknowledged, running with Wendy, Rogue, and Frosch to see what was going on.
"Sting-kun! He's…" Lector was crying and he carefully placed Sting on the ground.
Wendy's eyes were filled with horror now. Sting's body was covered in what would become bruises. His shirt, which was tied around his waist, was soaked in blood. Sting's mouth was also bloody and his legs had cuts everywhere. Wendy stood, frozen from shock. Rogue had to shake her to get her to wake up from her trance.
"Sting!" Rogue shouted as he grabbed his comrade's head, "Can you hear me? Wake up!" Rogue placed his ear on Sting's chest. "I can't hear it! I can't hear his heartbeat, dammit!"
Wendy, crying, bent down onto the ground and healed Sting's body.
"Lector," Carla walked up to the crying Exceed, "What happened?"
"Sting-kun...he…" Lector began, stopping after every word due to sniffles, "He took on a sea monster."
"Sting, wake up!" Rogue shouted at his comrade, his voice full of worry.
"Please…" Wendy begged as she finished her healing. Sting's body, carried by Orga, was rushed to the infirmary. He was hooked up to the medical machines as his heartbeat slowly returned.
Everyone let out a sigh of relief except Wendy. She grabbed Sting's limp hand, still crying.
"B-baka…" she whispered.
"Clear the room," Rogue instructed. Everyone left the room except Carla, Wendy, and Lector. Lector climbed onto the bed to sleep next to Sting as Wendy sat in the infirmary chair.
"He's gonna be okay…" Carla kept telling the girl. Wendy stayed silent for the entire night. She kept holding onto Sting's hand as the hours went by. Carla eventually fell asleep, as did Lector, but Wendy refused to. She was going to be there when Sting wakes up. Because he will wake up.
"Wendy," Carla walked into the room in her human form, carrying a plate of food, "Eat."
"I've been eating the air," Wendy told her, not looking away from Sting's still unconscious body.
"You've been eating air for the past 2 days. Eat physical food. Before the air runs out on the two of you." Carla commanded, practically shoving the food in Wendy's face. Wendy sighed and took a bite out of the sandwich Carla gave her.
"You need to sleep," Carla added, "Otherwise you'll be the one in that bed."
"I don't need anything, Carla. I have to be here and heal him if his heart starts to fail." Wendy said between bites of the unexpectedly tasty sandwich.
"You need him to wake up," Carla rebuttaled, making Wendy give her a look of shock. "But he'll wake up eventually. Whether you're awake or asleep, he'll wake up."
At that, Carla strutted out of the room. Wendy knew she was right. Even Lector stopped visiting Sting constantly. Everyone knew that Sting was stable. Chances of his heart failing were minimal, and his wounds were already almost healed.
But Wendy, instead of going to sleep, grabbed Sting's hand again. Sting's body was unconscious, but waves of suffering radiated from him. The pain on his face was apparent.
"I'm here, Sting," she whispered, "I'm here for you."
"One week has passed and she's barely left that room," Rogue spoke to Rufus, Orga, Carla, and Frosch. His eyes were fixated at the door to the infirmary, where Sting was still unconscious.
"I don't think she's slept for more than 3 hours," Carla stated, remembering the eye bags underneath Wendy's eyes.
"I don't recall her getting food today," Rufus said as he searched his memories.
"She's resorted to repeatedly healing him," Orga added, "She might overdo it and have herself end up in the bed next to his."
"Wendy…" Carla whispered worriedly as she looked at the infirmary door.
After a few moments of silence, the group heard Wendy scream, "Sting!" and everyone bursted in. Sting's body was spazzing rapidly as Wendy attempted to hold him down.
"What the hell?" Rogue asked as Rufus and Orga helped the girl hold Sting down. Wendy, once she made sure that Rufus and Orga were firmly holding Sting, began to heal Sting once again.
"Wendy, don't push yourself too hard!" Carla warned the girl, seeing Wendy mustering energy to use her healing magic.
"I'm fine. I just need to get Sting…" Wendy trailed off. Her head went light as her sense of balance began to diminish.
"Wendy!" Carla shouted, transforming to a human to catch the falling girl.
"...healed…" Wendy finished her statement as she completely collapsed. Wendy fell into a deep sleep, one she needed for the past week.
"Wendy," a voice called out to Wendy. Wendy got up and looked at her surroundings. She was in an utterly familiar place. There were tables across the room, a stage, a bar, and stairs to go up and down floors. Then, it dawned on Wendy.
"Fairy Tail..." she walked around and felt the objects in the room. She was definitely in the guild hall, but it wasn't the small one Macao was forced to move the guild to. No, it was the guild hall that Fairy Tail was originally in. Wendy then looked in the mirror behind the bar. She gasped, grabbing her face as she observed the sight in front of her. "Why am I 12 again?" she wondered. She felt the twin pigtails her hair was put in, a hairstyle she stopped using after, well, that day. Wendy then felt her "chest area", feeling that they were back to their small size. Wendy was also wearing a dress, something she hadn't worn in awhile.
"Wendy," the same voice repeated. This time, Wendy recognized it, running to find the source of it.
"Natsu-san?!" she cried out from the middle of the room. She then looked out the door, where the silhouette of the teenager and his Exceed appeared.
Natsu and Happy then ran away into the city. Wendy ran after them, sprinting out the door. However, once her foot touched the outside, Wendy's surroundings changed. She was now at the port, where she saw all of the S-Class candidates and wizards boarding the ship to go to Tenrou, where they would participate in the S-Class Promotional Trial.
"No!" Wendy cried out to them, "Don't go there! It's dangerous!" Wendy began to run to the ship, where her comments were ignored. "Zeref is there! And Acnologia will attack!"
Wendy ran onto the ship. However, once she got onto the ship, her surroundings changed again. The ship was now in the ocean, and its appearance changed again. Wendy's motion sickness thankfully did not occur, and the girl looked around for the people she was chasing after. She found no one on the ship and later found out that her body had matured into its 13 year-old self, where Wendy now had her signature ponytail.
Wendy looked at the ocean, observing the lack of islands around the ship. The ship was also not moving, instead just bobbing back and forth.
It was then that Wendy realized where she was. She was in the place where Tenrou Island once stood. She remembered how Doranbolt and Lahar offered Fairy Tail members a boat ride to Tenrou, where they would do their monthly look for the missing members of Fairy Tail. Macao finally gave Wendy an OK to accompany him, something Wendy was begging for. But Wendy realized that maybe she didn't want to go after all. It was at this moment that Wendy finally realized that they could be gone forever.
"Minna...don't leave me again..." she tightened her grip on the railing as tears poured from her cheeks.
"You okay?" Rogue's voice sounded out as he saw Wendy's eyes begin to open. "You had us worried there."
Wendy got up, feeling as if her energy had just tripled. She looked at her surroundings, observing that she was in her bedroom. She faced the mirror next to her bed and saw that she was back in her 15 year-old body. She looked over to Rogue, who was carrying Frosch. He did not say anything else, as if waiting for Wendy to answer. Wendy, remembering what happened before she collapsed, immediately got up from her bed, already heading toward the door to get back to the infirmary. Rogue sighed and turned into a shadow and went in front of her, stopping the girl.
"He's fine. He's still knocked out, but he's stable. You, on the other hand, have been out for about 8 hours."
Wendy let out a sigh of relief at the sound of Sting's condition before sitting onto her bed. "I've gone crazy, haven't I?"
Rogue gave a small smile and pinched two fingers close together, giving her a hand sign that meant 'only a little'. Wendy let out a chuckle.
"Can't blame you," Rogue spoke, "Considering your past, I realize how much you don't want to lose a comrade."
At this, Wendy's grip tightened on her bedsheets as painful memories washed over her. Rogue was right. Losing everyone in Cait Shelter and losing her closest friends in Fairy Tail really made her paranoid when it came to losing comrades. And the dream she just had wasn't helping. It just made her realize how she doesn't want to ever lose anyone again. People may call her overprotective of Sting and Rogue, but she just wants to make sure that they're okay. That they're not going anywhere. "He just needs to wake up. Just open his eyes. Just so that I know that he's okay."
Rogue flashed a smile as he slowly grabbed Wendy's arm, forcing her up and off the bed. He commanded Wendy to get dressed. She took a quick shower and changed into her usual outfit of a tank top and capris. When she got out of the bathroom, Rogue took hold of her arm again, leading her out the door.
"Where are you taking me?" Wendy asked, frantically looking back to make sure her apartment door was closed.
"Back to the guild building," Rogue answered, "Sting needs you by his side."
Wendy smiled at the Shadow Dragon as she let him lead the way. She later reunited with the same infirmary chair she stayed in for so long now. Wendy didn't heal Sting constantly anymore. She just had to wait now.
Light. That's what was shining in Sting's face when he finally woke up. The teen sat up, before letting out a grunt as a sharp pain appeared on his side. It was then that Sting's memories came back to him.
'I really did a number out there…' he thought to himself, remembering how he pushed himself to stop that damned sea creature.
A small "hmm" was heard by the White Dragon Slayer. Sting turned his head to see none other than Wendy sleeping in the infirmary chair. She was curled up into a ball, slightly shivering from the lack of warmth in the room.
"You must've been so worried," Sting whispered to her, "Gomen…"
Sting hopped off of the bed and went to one of the cabinets. He grabbed a blanket and softly placed it over the girl, who embraced it greatly.
"Arigatou. I have a feeling that you haven't left this room in a while."
Suddenly, Wendy's eyes opened. Sting took a step back, wishing that he didn't wake her. The girl saw the boy in front of her, giving him a blank stare. Wendy was a little groggy at first, but once she processed that Sting was the bandaged boy in front of her, she sprung from the chair and hugged him tightly.
"Sting! You're awake!" she exclaimed, smiling,
"Wendy…" Sting said out of pain. Wendy realized she was crushing his wounds and immediately pulled back. Blushing greatly, she apologized. Sting only smiled and patted her head to cheer her up.
"I'm so glad you're okay…" Wendy shed a tear of happiness.
"Of course I'm okay!" Sting responded, "It was an easy mission! I beat the tentacled bastard before the sun even set!"
Wendy's eyebrows furrowed as she gave him an angry look. Sting, confused, tilted his head at the sight of her mood change. Wendy then whacked him in the back of the head. "Baka! You had us all worried!" she began her lecture, "You had us on edge for 2 weeks! Do you know how many times I had to heal you?!"
Sting let out a small gasp, not realizing how long her had been out. No wonder why his stomach was growling like there was no tomorrow. Wendy continued her little spiel, "I know that we're all S-Class wizards now but that doesn't mean you go without us on a dangerous mission like that!"
"Wendy…"
"We...I could've lost you..." Wendy's voice slowly began to soften as tears continued to fall, "Sumimasen. I shouldn't have yelled. I just don't want to lose you, too…"
Sting observed the girl's sad state and walked over to her. The pain of losing a comrade. Sting has never felt that before. Well, there was Weisslogia, but that was different. Anyways, Wendy has felt that feeling too many times. He grabbed her and hugged her again, allowing her to cry onto his chest and his head to rest on her shoulder (which was pretty low considering their height difference).
'I'm a fool,' he thought, 'I don't want you to worry that much, Wendy. I never thought about how you guys would take it if I got really hurt. I was too arrogant…'
"You're never going solo again," Wendy smiled as she wiped her tears and got out of the hug.
"We'll see about that," Sting joked, hiding the regret he was feeling, resulting in Wendy giving him a warning look.
"Ever," she asserted.
"Fine…" the boy playfully sighed. Though he knew that she was right. He just didn't want to admit it.
Sting grabbed Wendy's hand and flashed yet another smile to her. Wendy blushed slightly before smiling back.
"Arigatou," Sting thanked her.
"You don't even know what I did," Wendy pointed out.
"Based on how you reacted to me waking up, I know enough."
The two walked out of the infirmary to reunite with the rest of the guild. Cheers erupted as Lector let out tears of joy.
"Do you have any idea of what she did these past 2 weeks?" Rogue asked his fellow teammate in the midst of everyone greeting Sting back.
"Something tells me she never left that chair."
"You put her through hell, Sting. Carla will have your head served on a platter."
Sting looked across the room, where Wendy and a few other Sabertooth members were laughing together. Sting gave a soft smile as he observed her happiness.
'I promise, Wendy. I'll never make you go through that ever again. I'll never take away that happiness again.'
A/N: Thanks for reading! I hope you guys enjoyed this little oneshot filled with a lot of StingWen. I really enjoyed writing this and hope you all enjoyed reading it!
Don't forget to vote on the poll on my profile! I'm currently trying to decide what magic I want my next OC to use once I begin writing that story.
If you guys have any suggestions/prompts for me to write, leave them in a review or message me directly! Just make sure that it fits in the Sabered Sky universe (i.e., no suggesting me to write something with Team Tenrou. In the story, they're not back yet. Once they are, I'll begin to take suggestions for those).
Until next time!
Disclaimer: I do NOT own Fairy Tail or its characters.