Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or the ideas/themes borrowed from Over the Garden Wall.
For Silv; thank you
He swore under his breath, the chilly November air curled with his shuddered exhale - briefly fogging his view of the endless wood in front of them. A hand reached for his head, his fingers threading through his already messy hair. A twinge crept along his temple and he flinched, none of this was settling quite right. Panic wouldn't do him any good, he noted that it didn't really swell or bloom in his ribcage like so many people said happened to anyone that found themselves in the forest.
His ruddy colored eyes squinted and he hummed low in his throat. No panic or even overt concern, just a strange inkling that he couldn't quite put his finger on. A tug on his shirt sleeve brought him from his reverie and he glanced down to the girl at his side.
A wrinkle marred her smooth brow as she slowly scanned their surroundings as well. "Maybe retracing our steps will get us back?"
His brow lowered in thought, weighing the options before him. The dark-haired boy looked over his shoulder and frowned - another endless passage of forest stretched out, fading darker and darker as he tried to refocus his vision to see farther beyond the line of trees. "Doubtful."
He tried to think back - how on earth had they managed to get here in the first place? There were the bleary images of him first waking and brushing his teeth and going to work and then, the call from Wendy's mom, Grandine. The snort of derision from his father as he made some joke about his son being paid and trusted with the care of someone's kid, even if it was his cousin. The back of his hand still held the diminishing scrapes from the younger girl's cat that had given him one hellacious greeting when he had entered the house. The corners of his mouth pulled down sourly, Wendy had been nagging him about going to the park shortly after he arrived and the park was connected to the wood, so they must have just taken a wrong turn down one of the older paths. He'd stupidly gotten lost in his thoughts and allowed the preteen to lead the way as she chattered on as if he were listening.
The kid had no sense of direction - she could lose her way in a paper bag without a problem.
If they kept walking they'd eventually hit the back of the property and find the road that wound to the front of the park, follow that and be back on their way home. Where he would promptly bribe Wendy with pizza and soda and rent a new movie she claimed to 'just love'. Grandine and his dad would be the none-the-wiser, Wendy'd be safe and sound, and he'd be 40 bucks richer.
"Our parents are gonna ground us for eternity, Gajeel."
Gajeel scoffed, shoving his hands in his pockets and ducking his head against the brisk breeze. "Again - doubtful. I was the one watchin' you, remember?" He spared his younger cousin a wry smile, the movement quirking up one corner of his mouth. "'m responsible for you, kid."
"Which is hilarious in hindsight. I mean, you usually scare small children away with that permanent glower of yours and babysitter does not come to mind when people think Gajeel Redfox. Plus, you can be about as capable as Natsu is depending on the da-"
He clapped a hand over her mouth and glared. "It was either me 'r the older woman down the street, smart mouth. Yer mom dishes out the orders and I take 'em for eight bucks an hour."
Wendy glared up at him and pouted. "Y'know I'm not a little kid anymore."
The young man sighed, kicking his boots through the leaves and crunching them under his heavy gait. "Yeah, yeah. Bein' eleven's real thrilling and grown up."
It was her turn to scoff, her derision puffing out in a quickly dissipating cloud of condensation. "Ain't that just the way." Gajeel rolled his eyes, but didn't comment further. Maturity and age was a sore topic since ten ticked up to eleven and one graduation ceremony later found the girl in the hallowed halls of junior high. Personally, he thought she was capable of taking care of herself if she stayed home alone after school until her mom got off work. But he didn't call the shots - Grandine did and his father had made sure to press upon Gajeel his own lecture on being capable - something about being an example - and acting his age (halfway to 20 and his old man still insisted on calling him 'brat') around Wendy.
With that in mind, he forewent an evening to himself.
He measured his steps, making sure to keep her within his sight. The wood they'd found themselves wandering in didn't have the prettiest reputation. Even in the bitter beginnings of winter, the trees stood tall and thick, their bare branches tangling and pressing in on each other allowing scant light, let alone a sliver of skyline, from up ahead. A tree warped from age and who knew what else seemed to open its mouth to them. Angry marks from an ax only seemed to feed the trees forlorn and mangled look, someone trying to steal city property for their fireplace no doubt.
The branches seemed to reach out in an attempt to catch in their jackets and pant legs - to coil around their elbows and knees and tugging harshly in their hair to keep the pair in place.
Gajeel's eye slid to catch another look at Wendy from his peripheral vision, closely watching her as she seemed to study the same creepy tree. Her slim throat worked around a silent gulp as she consciously took a step closer to him, not a missing a step in her pace as she snapped her gaze forward. She shook her head, newly chopped locks snapping against her cheeks.
She muttered to herself over and over again, he almost couldn't make heads or tails of her words, but he thought it sounded something like 'It's just your imagination'.
Her chanted mantra echoed in his own mind.
Gajeel set his mouth in a firm line and straightened his posture - he was still in charge and it wasn't going to do either of them any good if he lost his own head and freaked her out more. He worked to settle his heartbeat as he closed his eyes. It was just a forest, people went through here all the time. They were bound to run into a sign or someone who could give them directions sooner or later. They could do this.
"WHOO-!"
The noise startled him, his eyes shooting back open to catch sight of large eyes and even larger pupils.
Piercing gold eyes gleamed and struck Wendy like a physical blow. The wide unblinking stare demanded her attention and fear up front. The owl careened out of the rotted tree, just managing not to collide with the teenagers. Her blunt nails snatched in Gajeel's jacket and dug into his arm, her ear-shattering shriek echoed endlessly in the forest.
The owl answered it with an unholy screech of its own - in retaliation or its own feeling of being startled, Wendy couldn't be sure. She huffed into her cousin's side, working to catch her breath and stop her knees from shaking.
Gajeel stood perfectly still - keeping his pokerface firmly in place to avoid frightening Wendy more…Lest he wind up carrying her back home as she koala-d herself to him like that time he let her watch a 'scary' movie.
Wendy shivered as she eased herself away from the reassuring wall of heat Gajeel emitted. "W-we're so gonna get eaten."
"We're not gonna get eaten." He didn't look at her as he gripped her hand tightly, a held breath left her in a whoosh as she squeezed his hand in response.
The faint tickle at his temple throbbed dully once more. It was going to be a long night.
A/N: I'm going to go out on a limb and say you don't have to watch the show to be able to read/understand this story. Though, I think it would definitely make it easier to follow? But also because the show is beautifully done and it's such masterful storytelling, I can't say enough good things about it.
This is a pretty short start, I just wanted to go out on a limb (tree humor lol) and get the idea out there. Also, I'm not sure I'm back to writing. This was something I wanted to do and I'm hesitant to say I'm getting back on the horse after being knocked down for two weeks.