When the Sky Falls for the Flame
Chapter 2 - The Adventure begins!
"I can't believe you guys forgot me in the guild." Natsu pouted as he led the team on their walk to Lucy's house. "I mean, come on that's just messed up." He said with an annoyed tone. Wendy felt tears welling up in her eyes. She didn't like the idea of Natsu being mad at her.
"I'm sorry Natsu…" Wendy said for the tenth time since they left the guild hall. She was so mad at herself for completely forgetting him and to make matters even worse, her face still hurt. "I'm sorry…" She said again. Natsu looked at her over his shoulder and slowed his pace to match hers. He walked next to her and gently leaned his elbow on her shoulder.
"Ah come on Wendy… Please don't cry." He said softly. "I didn't mean to make you cry." His calm words gained him a curious look from Erza and Carla. "Besides," He said cheerfully. "What are you sorry for? You came back to get me didn't you?" He said with a smile. Wendy nodded without saying anything. "See? I can't be mad at you." Natsu reassured her. To Wendy's disappointment, Natsu removed his elbow from her shoulder and redirected his attention to the rest of the group. "You're the ONLY one who did." He said as he glared at the back of Erza's head. Erza shrugged.
"You're a big boy." She said calmly. "You knew we were in a hurry. If you didn't want to be left behind, you shouldn't have fallen asleep." Natsu let out a sarcastic laugh.
"I wouldn't have been sleeping in the first place if someone hadn't slammed me into the floor!" He shouted. Grey sighed and rolled his eyes.
"You know there's a big difference between sleeping and getting your ass knocked out, right?" He said trying to provoke Natsu. Natsu jumped over to Grey and was about to say something when Wendy spoke up.
"Hey guys," She said finally calming herself down. "Could we argue about something else?" Wendy really didn't want the others to keep fighting. Erza slowed her pace to match Wendy's as Grey and Natsu continued arguing.
"Of course." She replied. "You and I can talk about something more interesting." Erza looked at Wendy. "So Wendy, do you know what is happening in Magnolia next week?" Erza asked quiet enough that the others couldn't hear her.
"Next week?" Wendy asked putting her finger on her chin. "Nothing comes to mind. What is it?" Erza smiled.
"I'm surprised you don't remember." She said with a sly grin. "And here I thought you had so much fun at the Harvest Festival the last couple years." Wendy gasped.
"That's right!" She exclaimed. "The Harvest Festival and the Fantasia Parade are next week! It's one of the biggest festivals in Magnolia!" Erza nodded.
"That's right." She said with a kind giggle. "You know, there are a lot of events that take place during the Harvest Festival besides the parade..." Erza said as she turned her head to look at Natsu and Grey. The two men were shouting as Carla scolded them for being childish. "And it's a lot more fun when you have someone special to enjoy it with." As Erza finished her sentence, she seemed to motion her head in Natsu's direction. After a couple of seconds, she looked back at Wendy. "Just something to think about." An idea hit Wendy almost immediately. Her eyes widened and her mouth went dry at the thought.
'I could see if Natsu wants to go to the Harvest Festival with me!' She exclaimed in her head. 'He loves the Harvest Festival more than anyone and I'm sure he wouldn't mind spending it with me…I hope...' Wendy's head was bursting with ideas and fantasies. She was so happy that she couldn't stop herself from smiling and giggling out loud. Erza smiled and quickened her pace to return to her original spot in the middle of the group. She had planted the seed and she knew it. Wendy looked at Natsu and felt her cheeks warming up. 'I think I'll ask him now before we-' Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a familiar voice calling out to her team.
"Hey you guys!" A clearly blonde woman's voice called. "There you are! I was worried you were going to leave without me!" Wendy looked up the street and saw Lucy and Happy running towards them. Lucy was a very curvaceous young woman who practiced an unusual form of magic. Lucy practiced Celestial Spirt Magic. Celestial Wizards do not usually fight, but instead they summon spirits from another world to fight for them. Natsu looked at the newcomers and smiled.
"Hey! About time you guys showed up." He said as the pair reached the rest of the team. As soon as Lucy and Happy reached them they continued their walk to the train station. Natsu turned his attention to Lucy. "Jeez Lucy, I was starting to think your beauty sleep was more important to you than making money." Natsu teased. She narrowed her eyes at him.
"Listen pyro. My rent is coming due soon, so nothing is more important to me that than making money. Plus with the Festival coming up I'm going to need all of the extra jewels I can get my hands on." Lucy said sourly. "And maybe if you morons hadn't decided to stay up partying until 4 in the morning maybe I would have actually been able to get some actual sleep!" She snapped. Grey laughed.
"Well, no one said you had to stay up with us." He said as his clothes seemed to magically disappear.
"Okay! First off: Put your clothes back on!" She shouted. "Second off, I tried to leave early, but Levy wouldn't let me. She said I would have killed her buzz." Lucy shrugged. "So see? Not my fault." Natsu and Happy shook their heads.
"Sounds like someone has no self-control." Happy said giggling. Lucy picked him up off the ground and held him by back of his head.
"Shut it fur ball. No one asked you." She said threateningly. Happy squirmed his way out of her grip and jumped onto Natsu's shoulder. Natsu cut them off before they could say anything else.
"Oh well, it doesn't matter." He said. "Now that you're here Lucy our team is at full strength!" Natsu held his hand out to high five Lucy. She smiled warmly.
"Heck yeah it is!" She said accepting his high five. "Let's kick some butt!" Lucy and Natsu laughed. Wendy felt a frown clawing at the edges of her face as her fantasies came crashing down around her.
'They're so close…' She thought sadly. Wendy's pace began to slow as her thoughts turned sour. Before she knew it, she had fallen well behind the others. Wendy felt a weird tightness in her chest and it only took her a few seconds to realize what it was. She was jealous. Lucy and Natsu had been best friends for years. They had been a team long before Wendy had even joined Fairy Tail. There were people in the guild who said that the two of them end up falling in love someday. When Wendy first joined the guild four years ago, she believed that too. She thought that Natsu and Lucy them would make an adorable couple. But as time had passed, she grew more and more attached to the pink haired Dragon Slayer. Now the thought of the two of them ending up together caused a dull pain in her chest. Both of them were deeply precious to her and she never wanted to see either of them hurt, but she hated the idea of them falling for one another. 'Why do I feel this way? Is it okay for me to want Natsu all to myself?' She asked herself. 'Does it make me a horrible person to hope that Natsu ignores Lucy and falls for me?' As much as she didn't want to admit it, a part of her honestly wished for that to happen. That realization made her feel like the worst person in the world. Wendy squirmed uncomfortably as she fell further and further behind the group.
"Wendy?" A voice said. Wendy was so lost in her own thoughts she didn't understand that a voice was talking to her. At this very moment whatever the others were talking about didn't matter to her. The only thing she could think about was how horrible her own thoughts were. "Hello? Wendy? You okay in there?" The voice asked. Again she disregarded it. Any chance of Natsu spending the Harvest Festival with her was gone. Lucy had been glued to Natsu's side for the entirety of the festival last year and Wendy figured the same thing would happen this year. Wendy looked down at the ground. It was foolish of her to even think that maybe Natsu would rather spend his time with her. Lucy was so much prettier and her chest was so much bigger than Wendy's. There's no way Natsu could ever choose her over Lucy. "Hey Weeeeeennnnddddy? What's up? Are you hungry or something?" There was that voice again. It was starting to annoy her. Wendy sighed. She couldn't believe that she let her get her hopes up like that. She should have known better. "Okay that's it." The voice said abruptly. Suddenly, Wendy felt herself scooped up off the ground. The strange feeling knocked her back into reality.
"Hey!" She gasped. "What's going on!?" She looked over to who was carrying her. As soon as she saw whose arms she rested in she felt her face start burning. Natsu's warm smile beamed back at her. "N-N-N-N-Natsu?!" Wendy stuttered. "W-w-w-what are you doing?" Natsu's smile grew wider.
"You were falling behind." He said nodding his head forward. Wendy looked in the direction he pointed. Sure enough, while she was lost in her own mind, she had fallen way behind the rest of the team. "We thought you might have fallen asleep back here or something." Natsu said laughing. "So, I came back to find you." Wendy looked back at him.
"Y-You didn't have to do that." She said softly. "I would have caught up eventually… I don't want to be a burden to you..." Wendy said. Her words came out more depressing than she meant them to be. Natsu shook his head.
"Never gonna happen." He said without looking at her. "There's no way you could ever be a burden." Wendy could see the others up ahead. They had almost caught up. "You're a member of this team and we need you just as much as we need ice-for-brains or Erza. It just wouldn't be the same without you. Besides," Natsu looked at her and gave her a toothy grin. "You're way too fun to leave behind." Wendy felt her heart melting away. She was stunned and didn't know how to respond. Only one idea came into her frazzled mind and before her brain had a chance to think about it, her mouth chose to ask it.
"Hey Natsu?" She asked quietly.
"Yeah?" He replied.
"I'm pretty tired." She said sheepishly. "Would you mind if I stayed like this until we got to the train?" She instantly regretted her choice and felt her entire body tense while she waited for his answer.
"Sure." He said with a smile. "I'll carry you all the way to the station. So take it easy, Okay?" Wendy was powerless to stop her own toothy grin from spreading across her face. She felt her heart beat increasing with every passing second.
"That's fine. Thank you Natsu." She said happily.
"No problem." He said quietly as the pair reached the others. Their arrival was met with a curious glance from Carla and a smiling nod from Erza, but Wendy didn't care. Even if it didn't mean anything in the long run, she was completely content with this. Wendy didn't say or hear another word all the way to the station.
Wendy looked out at the world as it rushed past her window. The team had boarded their train and were on their way to their next adventure. Wendy was still in a euphoric daze from having Natsu carry her to the station. She secretly wished that she could have come up with some excuse to stay in his arms, but he was physically unable to hold himself up after the train started to move. She looked over at the young man sitting across from her. He was slumped down in his seat with the sickliest look on his face. It was an extremely common trait for Dragon Slayers to get extreme motion sickness. Natsu had a particularly bad case to the point where he was barely conscious most of the time. Wendy herself suffered from motion sickness as well, but her case was considerably less severe than Natsu's. She was still able to function, but she constantly felt sick when riding in any kind of vehicle. She always figured this was because her particular type of Dragon Slayer Magic could be used to temporarily cure motion sickness. As a Sky Dragon Slayer, Wendy was able to temporarily cure motion sickness with a spell called Troia, but her spell would only work a few times. Even if she did cast the Troia spell, it would only be effective for a short time. She wanted to cast it on Natsu and give him even a short rest, but there was a very intimidating obstacle in the way.
"Erza?" she asked looking at the red haired woman. "Are you sure I can't treat Natsu's motion sickness?" She asked timidly. Erza shook her head.
"No. You cannot." She said simply. "Natsu has done nothing but act like a violent fool since we left the Guild. This is the only chance any of us will get to relax before we get to our stop and I will not let him ruin it." Erza looked over at Wendy. "So no. I'm sorry but you can't help your boyfriend." She said with a mischievous smile. Wendy's eyes opened so wide that they almost popped out of her head and her cheeks felt like they were on fire. Her heart started beating like crazy and she had no idea what to say. Before she had a chance to react, Erza changed the subject. "So, Lucy, Happy." She said looking over at the others sitting across from her, leaving Wendy to contemplate jumping out the window to avoid embarrassment. "I don't believe you two know anything about the job we chose." Lucy shook her head. Wendy's heart stopped at the thought of Lucy catching what Erza had said. She prayed that she hadn't.
"Nope." She said sipping at a bottle of water she had. "What are we doing? More importantly, what horrifying place are you dragging us to this time?" She asked putting the bottle down and giving her full attention to Erza. If she had heard Erza's comment to Wendy, she gave no indication of it. Wendy breathed a sigh of relief as she calmed herself down. She could still feel her heart beating like crazy. She looked over at Natsu to see if he heard caught Erza's remark. The man looked so out of it that the train could probably explode and he wouldn't notice. Wendy smiled as Natsu made a strange gurgling sound that no one else paid any attention to. Grey reached into his pocket and pulled out the flyer.
"We're going to a place called Everwater Mountain. It's a mountain with dozens of never-ending rivers running down its slope." He said unfolding the paper and handing it to Erza. "At the base of Everwater Mountain, is a town appropriately named Everwater City. The town has asked for help with a problem that recently moved onto their mountain." Happy's eyes lit up.
"Everfish Mountain sounds like there would be a lot of fish there!" He exclaimed stupidly. Lucy dropped her head into her hand and refused to look at the blue cat.
"That literally isn't even close to what he said." She sighed. Lucy motioned to Erza with her hand. "Please tell us about the job before it chooses to speak again." Erza cleared her throat and took the flyer from Grey.
"Very well. About a month ago, around a hundred inmates from a prison in our capital city of Crocus staged a massive prison riot for reasons that were not disclosed to the public. The inmates broke out of the prison, escaped the city and scattered to the wind. Over the past month, the vast majority of the inmates have been captured and returned to the prison." She said looking at the flyer. Wendy cocked her head to the side.
"The vast majority?" She asked a little concerned. "What about the rest? Does our job have something to do with them?" Erza nodded.
"Both excellent questions." She said handing the flyer to Lucy. "Yes, we will be dealing with some of the escaped convicts. According to the reports, there are ten convicts that are still unaccounted for. Master Makarov told me that all ten are most likely hiding out together. He also believes that they have made their way to Everwater Mountain and have gone into hiding on the mountain." Lucy scratched her head.
"So we are going to what? Recapture the convicts?" She asked uncomfortably. "Isn't that a job for the army or something?" Erza nodded.
"You aren't wrong. From what the Master has told me about the situation, after hearing about the first successful revolt, prisoners all across Fiore have begun rising up to break out of their prisons. The Fiore Royal Military has its hands full keeping order within their prisons, so recapturing this small group of escapees is not a high priority at the moment." Erza stopped talking to take a drink from her own water bottle. Lucy leaned back in her seat as if lost in thought. Happy looked up at her.
"Careful Lucy. You don't want to hurt yourself by thinking too hard." He said giggling. Lucy glared at him but said nothing. Wendy glanced back at Natsu. She didn't think he was hearing any of this. The poor guy looked like he was about to turn into a puddle at Wendy's feet. Carla, who had been sitting on Wendy's lap this whole time, spoke up.
"So, these convicts have taken up residency on their mountain, and the townspeople want them removed. Sadly there is no help coming from the Royal Military so they contacted us for help. Is that about right?" Erza nodded.
"Exactly. Several people have been attacked on the outskirts of the city. Everwater City is a popular tourist destination and the Mayor is worried about these incidents affecting the city's income. They are willing to pay a very large sum of money in order to have the convicts removed." Lucy perked up at the last part.
"How much is "a large sum of money"?" She asked. "Because this sounds seriously dangerous." Lucy visually shook. "I mean these are hardened criminals we are talking about here. How are a handful of guild wizards and a couple of talking cats going to capture these guys?" Erza shook her head.
"We don't have the capture them." She said crossing her legs. We don't have the means of transporting nearly a dozen criminals across the country. The job is asking for us to remove them from the mountain and that is exactly what we are going to do. Nothing more, nothing less. Frankly, where they go after we kick them off Everwater Mountain is not our concern. The Fiore Royal Military will deal with them eventually." Erza stated. The subject changed to a discussion about how many jewels they were being paid for the job quickly lost interest. Money management was something that Carla took care of most of the time. She turned her attention away from the others and looked at Natsu again. He was mumbling something that Wendy couldn't quite make out. She smiled at him.
'It will be okay Natsu.' She thought turning her attention back to the scenery outside. 'We will be there in a couple hours and you will be back to your old self in no time.' She smiled at the thought. Wendy rested her head against the glass of the window and watched the trees go by. She found her mind wandering back to the Harvest Festival and whether or not she should ask Natsu if he wanted to go with her. After this morning, she felt more confident about asking him. She was still worried about the possibility of Natsu going with Lucy but honestly there wasn't anything she could really do to prevent that from happening. Wendy sighed and closed her eyes. Her mind continued to wander and fantasize until she finally dozed off.
"Wendy?" A quiet voice said. Wendy had been sleeping for quite a while and was just starting to wake up. "Come on child, wake up. We have nearly arrived at our stop." As Wendy returned to consciousness she recognized the voice as Carla. The white cat was standing on the bench next to her. Wendy yawned and rubbed her eyes.
"Carla?" She asked sleepily. "Are we at Everfish Mountain?" She asked without thinking. Carla groaned and pinched the bridge of her nose.
"Please…please do not repeat the tomcat's idiocy..." She sighed. "It's called EverWATER Mountain, and the answer to your question is no. We aren't there yet but we are just a few minutes away from the station. You can see our destination out your window if you wake up and take a look." Carla said looking out the window. Wendy nodded and stretched. She stood up and looked out the window.
"Woah, is that where we are going?" She asked awestruck. Carla walked away from the window so Wendy could get a better look.
"Mhm." Carla said nodding. "I'd say it's safe to say that that is Everwater Mountain." Wendy watched as the train drew closer to the mountain. The name Everwater Mountain was definitely appropriate. From her position, Wendy could see two large rivers flowing from the peak of the mountain. Not far from the peak, the two rivers split into multiple smaller rivers that, even further down the mountain, split into even more rivers. By the time they reached the base of the mountain, there were so many rivers that Wendy was having trouble counting them all. The rivers crisscrossed all over the mountain isolating small patches of earth from the rest of the slope. Wendy couldn't believe how much water she saw. She tore her eyes away from the mountain. Something seemed weird about the mountain.
"Hey Carla?" She asked. "That's an awful lot of water. Where does it all come from? Is there a big lake or something at the peak?" Carla shook her head.
"No." She said crossing her arms. "If you had bothered to stay awake during Erza's explanation, you'd know that at the peak of the mountain are two large lacrima that have been charged with water magic. The lacrima are set to absorb as much water as possible from this area's heavy rain season and then release it onto the sides of the mountain." Carla explained as the train pulled into the station. "The townspeople have obviously done this in order to drum up tourism for their town. Shameful." She said shaking her head. Wendy frowned. It was kind of a letdown to find out that the mountain and its strange river system wasn't natural. She shrugged gathered up the few things that she was responsible for. Natural or not, they came here to do a job and that was exactly what they were going to do.
The others had already gathered all of their belongings and were prepared to head for the exit as soon as the doors opened. Erza turned and looked at Wendy.
"Good morning, Wendy." She said with a sweet smile. "Would you make sure Natsu gets off the train? I'd hate for him to get left behind." Wendy looked over at the near unconscious man. Wendy guessed that Natsu didn't even know that they had arrived at the station. She had no idea how she was going to help him get off the train. Erza was obviously trying to make her uncomfortable, but she did not know how to weasel out of the task the woman had given her. Luckily, Grey interrupted.
"Nah don't worry about it Wendy." He said bending down to grab Natsu's arm. "There's no reason for you to have to carry this flame brain. Leave it to me okay?" Grey pulled Natsu up off the floor and tossed him over his shoulder like a limp rag doll. Wendy winced as Natsu's head bounced off of Grey's back and released a quiet gurgling sound.
"Thanks Grey." She said both disappointed and relived. "That's way easier than me dragging him off the train." The rest of the team followed Grey as he walked onto the platform. Grey walked onto the platform and dumped Natsu onto a bench that sat parallel to the train. As the rest of the group stepped off the train, they were met with a long pier-like walkway that stretched from the train station to the edge of the city. Wendy gasped at the beautiful sight in front of her. "This is amazing!" She shouted, her eyes sparkling. Laid out in front of her was a city that appeared to be floating on water. Everwater City was a city built right below the surface of a giant lake that had formed at the base of Everwater Mountain. Buildings and houses looked like they were bursting out of the water trying to reach the sky. In this city, roads were nonexistent. Waterways dominated the majority of the city and the people used them to get from place to place. From where they were standing, Wendy could see dozens of boats and swimmers moving through between the buildings. It truly was a city of rivers. The midday sun shone down on the crystal clear water, making it sparkle like diamonds. Wendy was so enthralled by the beautiful sight, that she did not hear the others walk up next to her. Lucy gasped.
"This city is beautiful!" She exclaimed breathlessly. "I can totally see why it has been named the number one "Most Gorgeous City in Fiore" by Sorcerers Weekly four times in a row." Lucy squealed happily. "I can't believe we are actually here!" Sorcerers Weekly was a popular magazine that followed all of the latest news from guilds across Fiore. Many young wizards read it religiously when it comes out each week. Lucy had got Wendy hooked on the magazine not long after she joined Fairy Tail four years ago. So, Wendy knew exactly what Lucy was talking about. As the girls stared at the city, Natsu was just beginning to regain consciousness.
"Ugh… Oh man I hate trains…" He groaned rolling off the bench. "I don't care how far away it is, next time we're walking." Natsu looked over at the others, who were all lined up looking at the city. "What're you all looking at?" Wendy spun around.
"Natsu!" She said, her eyes still sparkling. "Look at this place! It's so pretty!" Wendy spun back around and pointed at the city. Natsu walked up next to her.
"Holy crap this place is freaking awesome!" He laughed. "It looks like the city is swimming!" Grey groaned somewhere off to Natsu's left.
"Cities don't swim bonehead." He said shaking his head. Grey waited for a few seconds expecting an angry response from Natsu, but all her heard was the faint sound of Wendy whispering. He started to turn around. "Yo, Natsu did you hea- HEEEYY!" Grey's words turned into a started shout as he fell from the pier into the water below. Natsu stood in the spot where Grey once occupied.
"That was perfect! Good thinking Wendy!" He shouted laughing. Natsu shot her a thumbs up which she happily returned.
"Wendy!" Carla shouted. Wendy shrugged.
"Oh come on Carla." She said shrugging. Wendy started walking down the pier making her way to the city. "He's a big boy, he'll be fine." Carla's face turned red with anger. Before the cat could make a scene, Wendy motioned to the others. "Come on! I wanna see more of the city!" Natsu, Happy and Lucy cheered and followed her as the water around the pier began to freeze.
End Chapter 2
