AN: Hey everybody! Thanks so much for your positive feedback on the first chapter, I really appreciated it. This one's set directly after the Tartaros battle, and it's still plotless, still pointless, still fluffy. Enjoy!
Wendy was the first one to approach Natsu, after the dragons disappeared.
He had collapsed to his knees after screaming his intentions to the world, staring sightlessly at the sky with eyes full of tears. It tore at Wendy's heart, to see her feckless, courageous teammate looking so lost. Natsu was a force of nature in his own right; it just wasn't right for him to appear like that.
Wendy, who had left Charle to sit with Happy, curled up at her pseudo-brother's side. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders, face still turned to the stars, and Wendy snuggled eagerly into his warmth. In turn, she wrapped both arms around his waist and squeezed.
"I'm sorry, Natsu-san," she whispered. "Your father was very brave."
Natsu fell back on his butt, pulling Wendy along with him so that she landed half in his lap. She didn't mind. Although she had come over to comfort him, she couldn't deny that the contact was comforting her as well. Natsu's body temperature ran so high that it was almost like cuddling with Grandine.
"It was so short."
The hushed statement was so wounded that tears pricked Wendy's eyes. She knew how he felt.
"It was, wasn't it?" Wendy pushed her face into Natsu's stomach. "All these years, and we only get a few minutes to say goodbye."
Her words came out muffled, but it was no problem for a dragon slayer's hearing.
Natsu stroked the hand that wasn't around her shoulder over her newly-shortened hair. "I'm sorry about your mother, Wendy. She seemed really cool."
A fierce kind of pride lit up in Wendy's chest. Grandine and the others had saved them – had saved all the magic in Fiore. Watching the majesty of dragons in action was truly a once-in-a-lifetime event. Wendy doubted she could ever describe just how awe-inspiring it had been. For as long as she lived, Wendy was certain that she wouldn't ever forget a moment of it.
"Oi, Salamander."
Gajeel stomped up to them and dropped to the ground, arms and legs both crossed tightly. Sting and Rogue followed suit, settling on either side of the Iron Dragon Slayer and completing their little circle. Wendy straightened up so she could see everybody, but stayed leaning into Natsu's side, tucked under his arm.
"Hey, guys. Our parents- our parents are pretty awesome, aren't they?"
Natsu's voice was watery. Wendy squeezed him harder.
"That bastard," Gajeel muttered petulantly. "Hiding away for all this time and then leaving like that. Typical useless asshole."
Despite the rough words, Wendy could see the way his eyes wavered. He'd been strong for her earlier, but losing Metalicana for good this time definitely hurt him just as much as losing Grandine hurt Wendy. She wished she could reach across and offer him the same comfort she was giving Natsu.
"I can't believe they made us think that we killed them," Sting said, looking a little shell-shocked. "When really-" His hand drifted to hover over his chest.
Rogue nodded. "This whole time they were protecting us from something we didn't even know we were in danger from."
Which reminded Wendy-
"Acnologia used to be human. He is human."
Her tone was blank with shock. It was mind-boggling to the young girl, how a demon like that could have ever been a person. She herself could have turned out the same if Grandine hadn't done what she did.
"He's not," Natsu said, low and fierce. "A Dragon Slayer who bathed in the blood of so many dragons that he ended up in the form of one; sounds like a monster to me."
They all nodded, looking a little sick.
"We'll get him one day."
Gajeel said it, entirely serious and without a hint of bravado. "We can't let that asshole run around doing whatever he wants to the world, right, Salamander?"
Natsu's grip on her shoulder tightened.
"Right."
The mere thought of fighting Acnologia sent terror spiralling through Wendy's gut. But at the same time…
"Together."
She clenched her fists, grim determination somehow settling the swooping in her stomach. The image of Igneel, King of the Fire Dragons, father of one of her greatest friends, falling to the earth with a single black limb in his mouth flashed through her mind.
"For your father, Natsu-san. For a world without that darkness hanging over us. We'll beat him together-WAH!"
For a second or two, Wendy couldn't breathe.
And then Natsu loosened his hold, and she realised they were laying on the ground, with Natsu squeezing the life out of her. She closed her eyes and squeezed him back.
"Hey, don't leave us out."
One after another, three warm bodies piled on top of them (one with considerably more force – and swearing – than the others). Crushed against Natsu's chest with the breath once again knocked out of her, Wendy opened her eyes – and came face to face with a supremely disgruntled Gajeel.
The grinning faces of Sting and Rogue beyond him were enough to tell her what had happened.
Shifting only enough to make breathing easier, Wendy listened contently to Natsu's squawking and Gajeel's grumbling, intermingled with the laughter of Sabertooth's twin dragons. Normally, taking part in a puppy pile like this one would be enough to reduce her to a blushing, stuttering mess.
But right now, with the grief of losing her mother combined with the terrible awareness that she would one day come face-to-face with the greatest monster to ever live, well.
Pressed in at all sides by the solid weight of her fellow dragon slayers – her friends – Wendy felt nothing but comfort.
At some point, Natsu managed to convince the others to roll off of them, and they all ended up in a circle, laying with their heads together and their hands linked, staring up at the stars. Wendy had a vague awareness of Happy and Charle sitting where she had left them, keeping watch while giving the five of them space, for which Wendy was indescribably grateful.
"I'm gonna get stronger," was the last thing Natsu said, iron conviction in his voice. "I'm gonna get stronger, and I'm gonna make sure that nobody ever hurts my nakama again."
Wendy didn't know it at the time, but that memory would be a source of hope and reassurance to her throughout the next year. Even with Fairy Tail disbanded, even with everybody scattered across the continent, there were two things that Wendy Marvell had absolute faith in. One was Charle.
The other was Natsu Dragneel.
AN: Little more feelsy than the first one. Hope y'all liked it!
- Kelly