A/N: Heloo! Everyone! wiErD here. I got another chapter for you guys.
Hope ya like it!
Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail nor its characters. All goes to Hiro Mashima himself.
- Summer Training -
A few days had passed as the decision to participate on the Grand Magic Games has finally been decided by the Master. With the event starting three months from now, everyone needed to plan their own time of honing their skills and training themselves in order to be fully prepared at the upcoming festival.
One of the group that also started their own plans of training was Team Natsu and Team Shadow Gear, in addition of Juvia. The party was formed just after the announcement of the guild's participation to the games. It was under the condition of tagging along close friends with them and train with each other in order to become stronger in those three months.
Of course, everyone thought out that the training exercise would be more like a harsh one, consisting of giving a hundred push-ups and other practices of taking their bodies to the very edge of their capabilities but that is not the case.
Instead, the group decided their training ground to be at the beach in which contains a lot of things to consider that aren't really part of any extensive training. It was more like a place for relaxation as the group wore on their bathing suits together with some swimming gear to boot. Most of them were preferring enjoyment to it, forgetting the fact that they were here to train in the first place.
The beach was full of people in their own bathing suits as they saw them play around the sand. There were also some families who brought along their kids to play around with the others, leaving their adults to relax by their mats and feel the warmth of the sun shining above them. The joy of the atmosphere was strong and lively as the people wore bright smiles whilst taking their time freely on the beach itself.
And in just like that, the group went out from their lodge and happily sprinted to the beach in pure excitement.
"Summer beach training!" They all shouted in glee as they joined in to the fun and started playing in the ocean without a second thought.
"Aaah... It's been a long time since I went out to a beach." Lucy breathed refreshingly as she gazed over to the endless sea before her.
"Seven years of blank time kinda wore down our strength as well despite being frozen in state." Levy perked in as she came beside the celestial mage with the same happy expression before gazing through the horizon.
"Well, let's replenish ours by enjoying our time here." The celestial mage smiled wide as she started to spring her way towards the ocean together with Levy.
"Hey guys! This isn't the time for relaxing ourselves. We must use every bit of our time in training instead of goofing around." Another voice came out from behind the girls as Jet and Droy came into view with different opinions about their training sessions. They don't seemed to agree that having a beach training is gonna help them boost their powers before the start of the games. And they could see most of their friends are having fun instead of focusing on training their magical powers.
It was then, another woman came into view behind them.
"Don't be like that... Having key of varieties is one way of getting yourselves used in future training. Playing well, swimming well and eating well every day." Erza explained as she too, joined in with the other girls.
"That's totally leaving the main point of training." Jet deadpanned.
"We can always have our training the next day or so... After being sealed in those seven years, it's natural for us to experience relaxation once in a while." Gray joined in the conversation with Natsu who was busy looking elsewhere throughout the beach, seemingly trying to scan the area.
"Even so, we should still make use of our time... We only have three months remember?"
"Three months is a long time... We could utilize our time of dividing our training sessions." Gray suggested.
"That's right! Slack down for a while... It's not like the games is gonna start three days from now." Natsu added.
With the opinion of their friends laid out to them, Jet and Droy could only sigh onto their selves and reluctantly agreed with the idea. Well, it's just the first day so there's nothing to be worried about. Seeing the rest of their friends and the people around them enjoying the beach, they guessed that there's no need to be so uptight about training. After all, they all deserve to rest and enjoy life once in a while.
And in just like that, the group continued their time to the beach. The girls simply played around the beach while some rested to bathe themselves from the bright sun. Others played around the sand, building anything that comes into their mind.
It was then, Natsu finally noticed someone was missing on the group. He looked around the vicinity for a blue silky hair but found no one. Happy and Carla also seemed to be nowhere in sight seeing that there is no walking felines in the area of the beach.
"Hey, have you seen Wendy around?" Natsu tried to ask Gray who was busy building a sand castle on his own.
"Beats me... Maybe she was still on the lodge together with the Exceeds... They were the last ones who are left in the lodge so I think they might still be there." The ice mage replied.
The pink-haired dragonslayer could only nod in response before standing up from his feet and glanced towards the lodge a few meters away from him and decided to make his way towards it. He was worried that she might be having some kind problem getting out on her own since she wasn't used to anything like this. But just as he was about to near the lodge, he finally caught sight of his Exceed together with hers, just standing beside the wooden door, seemingly waiting for someone.
He steadily made his way towards the lodge and eventually called out to them. The Exceeds noticed his approaching presence before greeting him as he neared to them.
"Hey, Natsu!" Happy exclaimed.
"Hey... Have you seen Wendy around? I can't find her ever since we started coming out to the beach? Is something wrong?" He asked in a slightly worried manner as the Exceeds simply looked at each other for a moment before looking back at the pinkette.
"There's no problem really... It's just her unable to get out from her personalities issues... And she was embarrassed about showing her outfit to everyone or rather to a certain someone." Carla slightly smirked while looking mischievously towards the clueless dragonslayer together with this Exceed who doesn't seem to follow her conversation.
"What do you mean?" He answered quizzically. Carla could only sigh at his obliviousness.
"It means that she's too shy to even reveal herself in front of everyone in her swimsuit." It took a few seconds for the pinkette to understand what she meant.
"Is that so? Can I help?" He offered.
"Well actually, we really need you to help her get over her embarrassment." The white Exceed smirked deviously.
"Sure, what can I do?"
"Just call out to her inside..." She pointed over to the wooden door before them as Natsu simply nodded and walked towards the door and tried to knock a few times before speaking out her name from the other side.
"Wendy... Are you there?" True enough, the plan worked as Wendy let out a small shriek from the other side, unaware that Natsu was just behind the door waiting for her. She could've possibly thought that the pinkette was at the beach, playing with the others or something.
"N-Natsu?" She stuttered.
"Hey, Wendy... Come on, let's get out and enjoy the beach. Everyone is waiting for you." He called out in response with the two Exceeds waiting beside him at the door.
"I-I-I'll be out in a few seconds... Please don't mind about me. I-I'll catch up to you guys soon." She replied back with a hint of nervousness deep within her voice as she hastily tried her best not to worry the pinkette about her but Carla's not gonna buy it.
"Wendy... Just come out already! It's not like he's gonna faint or something." The white Exceed slightly raised her voice in annoyance of her dragonslayer's shy demeanor although she did put up another hint in which immediately got her to open the door almost instantly with a slam before looking towards her best friend with a flustered face.
"IT'S NOT LIKE THAT-huh?" She screamed in a loud voice but lowered it down afterwards as her eyes soon darted over to the pinkette right in front of them, finally revealing herself without even noticing that Natsu was just beside them. The two dragonslayers met their gazes at each other as they were left frozen and unmoving from their positions. Both of them were dumbfounded to see each other as Natsu was left to see her in light-blue swimsuit, consisting of a bikini top with strings tied over and below her shoulder to the back and a small skirted bottom with small frills on the edges. It was actually his first time seeing her in this kind of outfit since he normally sees her in casual outfits.
Wendy was also startled to see him in his black trunks, adorning with flame designs at the bottom part. His scaly scarf was tied at his waist, serving some sort of a belt and freely exposed his upper body to her.
It didn't take for her to realize that she was already heating up just by gazing at his physical body alone which caused her to fluster even more as a result. Sure, she did accompany him a couple of times in the beach years ago but as it goes by, she was starting to get cautious around him and can't even look straight at him as her face was merely shaded in crimson red due to embarrassment. Well, she was already at a fine age where she gets conscious around her surroundings and herself or even others for that matter.
Before even the group could even return to the guild, she was quite loose on her things despite living with him together but right now, she can't help but feel uptight towards herself when confronting Natsu alone.
It was because she was starting to see him in a different light. Whether like it or not, her personal view to him as a close friend had gradually changed in the course of those years. At times, she's having unexplained feelings inside that made her to question herself about her relationship with him.
What does she think of him as of now? Is it still in the stems of friendship? Or there's something even more that her heart was trying to tell her? She didn't know... but she was starting to realize the answer.
And it's not just about her own feelings, she also wanted to know of what he also feels about their relationship. For all these years, she wanted to know how he sees her in his own life. She didn't want to know it from his actions. She wanted to know from his words alone. However, she can't just bring herself to ask him about it since she doesn't have the courage to do so.
What if he rejects her? What if he doesn't really sees her that way?
Those are the questions that she don't want to remember. She doesn't want to let her relationship with him to end just from it. Although it sounded a bit selfish, she just can't help it.
It's because she loves hi-
Slapping herself hard to the cheek, Wendy shook off the thought out of her head as her mind couldn't take it. Natsu and the two Exceeds simply tilted their heads in confusion after seeing her suddenly slapping her face without any reason at all.
"Uhhh... Are you alright, Wendy?" Natsu couldn't help but ask.
"Y-Yes... Don't mind me..." She meekly replied while Carla could only smirk underneath her breath before finally speaking.
"Well, Natsu... What do you think?" The white Exceed gestured her paws towards the flustered bluenette who was surprised at her statement while Natsu was left to stammer in response to her question.
"Carla!"
"W-Well... ... ... I-It's pretty, I think... You look beautiful." He sheepishly replied while scratching his cheek out of embarrassment of his words towards her. Wendy on the other hand, simply took the words to heart as her face didn't went down as it stayed in complete shade of red color before leaving herself standing in shock before him. She doesn't have the power to say something beyond that point as she stayed silent with heavy blush on her face. Happy was cupping his mouth while Carla was smiling in relief, seeing that the interaction between their dragonslayers were so priceless and... ... eerily silent.
There were no words exchanged after his compliment as they were just staring at each other in wonder, until she finally decided to end it.
"Okay, now that you got your compliment from him, let's get going." Carla spoke which snapped them out from their trance as both dragonslayers reluctantly nodded before following her and Happy behind who was still giving them that creepy look of cupping his mouth with his cheeks puffed. He seems to be teasing them but Natsu had no clue of what his Exceed was trying to get at.
While walking towards the beach, Natsu and Wendy walked alongside with each other in silence, both heads glanced away from the other direction until Wendy shifted her gaze towards the sand before trying to steal glances at the pinkette who soon noticed her gazes at him.
"What is it, Wendy?"
"N-Nothing..." She squeaked.
"You know, if you're worried about what I said earlier, I can take it back if it's bothering you." He softly replied.
"Y-You don't need to do that! I was just surprised that's all... I just never had someone to compliment me like that..." She revealed while secretly hiding a small smile on her face.
"Oh, I see... Well, you do look pretty in that outfit... It suits you perfectly." He smiled once again, unknowingly catching the bluenette off guard as she flared up in embarrassment.
"T-Thank you... ..." She whispered. Meanwhile, in front of the two, Carla and Happy could only look at each other with a cheery smile before letting the two finally talk once again.
..
..
After a few minutes of making their way towards the beach, they finally met with the others and completed the group once again. They started their enjoy their time together with the others as Natsu and Gray had began their reformation of their rivalry while Wendy the other girls simply played around the beach with the Exceeds. It's been so long since they went in together with the rest of their friends. Years of hardship seemed like a memory to them and seemingly replaced it with pure joy and happiness of their friends alongside with them.
Whatever it is, everything is going to be alright from now on. Participating in the games is more likely another challenge for them but they feel confident that they would also prevail. With their friends right beside them, there's nothing to fear. They will retake the title back and finally reclaim their position as the number one guild in Fiore.
After playing themselves in the beach, everyone moved onto their separate places and began their training there.
Natsu and Happy were on the isolated part of the beach where the former was trying to strengthen his own power to become stronger and push himself to the very edge. Despite training in the past seven years, he could not allow himself to slack down since every year, more and more mages come around and participate in the games. He needed to be stronger and fight those people with all his might.
With his trusty Exceed cheering him on the sidelines, Natsu stood at the sand as waters rushed through his feet. His eyes were closed as he was concentrating his powers in his body and tried to unleash some of his strength.
"Come to think about it, I haven't seen your power that much ever since Gildarts..." Happy suddenly spoke in question at the pinkette with a pondering thought. Natsu opened his eyes and looked back at him with a confident smirk.
"Is that so? Wanna see it?"
"Of course, I do hope you meet my expectations... You're Natsu, alright." Happy clarified.
"Sure... I didn't laze around in those years..." He stated before looking back at the sea before him. Inhaling deeply as fire began to pour inside his lungs which signifies his traditional roar as he slowly bent his back after collecting more fire into his mouth before stopping and puffed his cheeks and took one last glance at the sea with a serious look before unleashing his power.
"Fire Dragon's Roar!" Without warning, an immensely large stream of fire erupted from his mouth that soon trailed far off towards the ocean, kicking up a lot of steam due to its intense heat colliding to the cold waters. The flames were so enormous that it actually blew back everything behind Natsu, including Happy who wasn't expecting that kind of power from him as he was simply launched away from his previous position.
Some of the onlookers back at the beach were startled to see a large haze of fire in the distance as Lucy and Gray simply placed their hands over to their foreheads and watched it from afar.
"What was that?"
"A conflagration?"
"It's probably Natsu." Wendy calmly replied which made the two jawdrop in response.
"WHAT?! THAT'S HIM?!" The two tried to confirm but Wendy could only nod at their question, leaving them in utter shock.
Going back at the duo, the dust seemed to settle for a few seconds as Natsu deeply breathe after releasing the roar's full force. With embers escaping from his mouth, Natsu could only stand back from his previous stance and looked at the sea before him. The waters in front of him simply evaporated, giving him a glimpse of the sea bed before being filled again with water and smiled in delight.
Looking back to find his Exceed, Natsu immediately found him stuck on the sand with his head buried first.
"How about that, Happy? Does it live to your expectations?" He clarified. At first, Happy didn't respond before slowly raising his head from the sand with his eyes circling in dizziness.
"I-It exceeded far more than it..." He stuttered in disbelief. Natsu made his toothy grin after that.
"Alright! But I'm not gonna stop there... I'm gonna keep on training so no one would finally look down on our guild!"
"A-Aye..."
"Come on, Happy... I want you to see my new spells... I want you to be the judge." The blue Exceed could only groan in pain seeing that Natsu has some more things left in store for him. He could just hope that it won't have to do anything about blowing him away from its intensity.
"Aye..."
..
..
Another few hours has passed as the light of the day progressed further towards the afternoon. The blinding light of the sun above the sky brought down an incredible amount of heat to the ocean as people bathe warmly at it as some of them were resting on their mats, relaxing themselves in the process. Others simply went to the beach to fight off the heat with cold waters and played around.
Wendy simply sat on the sandy beach as the waters washed constantly a few meters in front of her. She picked the beach to be the perfect spot to be reading the papers that Grandine had passed down to her in order to learn their secrets and use them in the upcoming games. Slowly scrutinizing each page, she found some words that are unfamiliar to her in which she simply skipped through it and studied more.
It took her a few minutes until she can't take it anymore and gave up reading it for a moment as she laid down on the beach, closing her eyes to think. I
It's just as Porlyusica-san had reminded her back then... This is not easy to master without looking further to the other words that she needed to understand before moving on to the next one. Some of the words written were not in human language so she guessed that it was draconic. She didn't expect it to be like that since she thought that Grandine would translate it to her language.
Her meeting with Grandine was brief. And as a result, she lacked any offensive dragonslayer spells or any culture of the dragon language that much. With the meeting with Natsu and Fairy Tail, she learned to adapt her own spells from the pinkette and train to become stronger.
Speaking of the pinkette, she suddenly rose up and glanced around to find him but was only able to see Lucy and Levy doing their training together. Gray was somewhere doing the same too while Erza was training to hone her sword skills a few meters away from her. She tried to find him but it was not before long, she saw a figure running with a set of huge tiles tied on his waist as he ran around the beach, together with a smaller figure flying beside him.
"Haaaaaaaah!" Natsu roared in determination as he ran as fast as he could with Happy cheering him.
"Aye!"
Eventually, the two soon made their way coming towards her place before finally stopping as Natsu unhitched the tires and looked at Happy before wiping a bead of sweat from his head.
"How many laps did I go?"
"578... I think that's enough training for now... Remember this is just the first day, Natsu... We should settle down, once in a while." Happy advised before eating a fish in his hands.
"I guess, we should call it a day then."
"Aye!" The two partners smiled at each other until Happy soon parted from him and went somewhere to find Carla as usual, leaving the pinkette alone as he tried to stretch out his body to keep his strength in check until he finally noticed Wendy a few meters away from him.
"Hey, Wendy!" He called out in delight as he tried to make his way towards her together with Happy. The bluenette simply passed a wave towards the duo before they finally met face to face with each other.
"How's training?" She asked, seeing that Natsu really did put up a lot of energy in today's training.
"We did running laps around the whole island... What about you?" He noticed her holding onto the paper Porlyusica gave to her days back.
"I was just starting to learn it but there are some words that are really confusing for me so I'm stuck." She tried put up a dry laugh, seeing that she didn't made any progress while he already started his own.
"Do you need some help?" He offered.
"R-Really?"
"Sure, I can help you out... Some of the words were written in dragons language there... Do you know it?" He tried to ask but Wendy could only frown at his question as she lowered her head.
"No... I didn't learn much from Grandine since she disappeared too early and I'm left with little to no knowledge about it." She reasoned which caught the pinkette to think for a moment. After that, he simply smiled before ruffling her head again like usual as he looked at her with a reassuring grin.
"Don't worry... I can help you with that... Igneel did taught me a lot of things about dragons so this one is no problem..."
"Thank you, Natsu..."
And the conversation continued. Natsu thoroughly taught everything he could point out about the unusual words as Wendy carefully listened in response to his teachings. Of course, there were instances that they goof around while teaching each other and Wendy was starting to pick the pieces in place and eventually memorized all the needed chants and patterns for the completion of the spells.
It was starting in the afternoon as the sun was beginning to set again on the west horizon, bringing up orange-filled lights in the sky and stretching shadows as it descends down on the sea. Despite of that, the two simply continued and tried to make use of their time in deciphering the words written on the paper.
"I still don't get about the Milky Way though... Is it an offensive spell or something?" Natsu asked as he peered his head over to the paper and find it confusing to know its use. Wendy was also quite puzzled at this as she tried to analyze the writings below the word itself.
"Listen to the voices of the dragons, connected to the river of the sky... " She spoke out its definition but cannot seemed to analyze it. "I don't get it."
"Well, I'm stumped... It's your magic so you must be the one who must know it." Natsu explained.
"A defensive spell maybe?" She inquired.
"I don't know..." He shook his head disapprovingly. "But at least, we got the first spell down... Are you sure that you want to try now? We could always try the spell the next day or so."
"Hmm... I guess we should try it by tomorrow... ... But I have something to do before I could use it." Wendy spoke.
"What is it?" He tried to ask but Wendy simply stood up from her position and softly gazed at him with a faint smile.
"Natsu, would you like to have a spar with me?" She offered and not before long he widened his smile as he beamed at the bluenette standing right beside him.
"Sure! It's been a while since we had our training together... I was starting to feel lonely..." Wendy could only giggle at his antics before stopping momentarily and asked once again.
"Why?"
"Well, having to fight you kinda brings up the fun... It's just feels so bright and lively whenever I get to train with you." He admitted, stuttering her in the process.
"I-Is that so? W-Well, don't mistake me for a weak mage because even though you're insanely powerful, I can still put up a hard fight against you." She lightly dared that only made him to chuckle a bit.
"You're not weak though... And I can tell that you're powerful to begin with... And that even makes me even more fired up than ever!" He spoke in glee before standing up to his feet and faced the bluenette with determination.
"Are you ready, Wendy?"
"Yes!" Both dragonslayers faced off against each other as they focused their gazes at each other. There are no more people in the vicinity, seeing that most of them went back to their lodges. Right now, this is the perfect time to train while there is a chance for them to be alone in order to prevent anyone from getting injured since Natsu tends to overdo everything on his own.
Both sides stared at each other for a moment until the wind finally stops, giving them the cue to start off the battle. Wendy was the first one to initiate her spell as she stretched her arms outward as three magical circles appeared beneath her feet and right beside her hands.
"Fast wind that run the heavens... Ile Vernier!"
"Magic that protects the heavens... Ile Armor!"
"Power of stout arms that tears heaven... Ile Arms!"
Chanting those words, Wendy felt an significant increase of her magical and physical capabilities as she glowed in light-blue before looking back at the pinkette one last time.
"Here I go, Natsu!"
"Yosh! I'm all fired up!"
With that said, Natsu flared up his fist in flames as he began his charge towards Wendy and tried to attack her with her fist. Before he could even make contact with her, Wendy already disappeared from her previous position, causing Natsu to widen in surprise, seeing that her speed was actually faster than ever before and with the help of the buffs, she might be even faster than he thought.
However, he could only smile in delight, knowing that she really is a formidable opponent when fought against him.
It was then Wendy finally appeared behind him before chanting another spell towards him. She stretched out her arms as wind encircled it, causing a change of wind current around her vicinity.
"Sky Dragon's Hurricane Edge!" Swiping her hands in an X-pattern, Wendy sends out two huge wind blades towards him, only to be dodge easily as the wind crashed to the sand, causing a large cloud of dust and sand a few meters away.
Without a moment to waste, Natsu used the opportunity to counterattack as he clasped his hands together in flames before creating a huge fireball and pointed it towards the bluenette.
"Fire Dragon's Brilliant Flame!" Natsu shouted briefly as he launched the fireball towards the bluenette but she easily dodged it before generating a conflagration behind her.
Both sides exchanged spells at one after another, leaving a trail of burning paths and ravaged areas as Natsu and Wendy poured out there magics at each other, unknowingly beginning to tear the beach apart with their powers. Knowing that consequence, the two simply decided to fight on close-combat quarters as they closed their distances at each other and began to trade blows. Wendy was able to evade much of his attacks while Natsu on the other hand, simply took her attack head-on without even showing signs of injury though he gotta admit, some of her attacks kinda hurts, especially with wind-enhanced fists.
Another couple of minutes has passed as the sun was setting on the horizon, bringing in the darkness on the other side of the globe. The two dragonslayers suddenly broke away for a few meters from each other after a power struggle as they both panted on their breathes, seeing that they've been training for quite some time now without stopping.
"You're really strong, Wendy..." He remarked.
"Thank you... But I can see you're still holding back." She suspected, seeing that he didn't use any of his flames to enhance his attacks.
"Well, I just couldn't bring myself to hurt you even if it's just a training." He admitted which caught her off guard as she suddenly blushed at his reason of not doing so.
"W-what are you talking about? A-Are you trying to let me put my guard down?!" Natsu simply chuckled.
"No... I was being honest really. I just can't picture myself trying to hurt you... You are very precious to me, Wendy... I just can't do anything about it." He softly spoke before actually returning back to his battle stance. On the other hand, Wendy finally lost her composure as her flustered side, eventually got the best of her and simply let down her guard and eventually went down on her knees.
"W-What are you doing... saying those words at a time like this..." She muttered silently which somehow made him confused about it.
"What do you mean?"
"I-I surrender..." She conceded defeat while trying to hide her blushing face from him.
"Eeeeh? Why?" Natsu drawled lazily, surprised at her sudden declaration.
"... lost." She mumbled something underneath her breath which didn't go unnoticed from the pinkette.
"What is it, Wendy? Did you say something?" He tried to ask.
"I wanna go back to the lodge." She spoke.
"O-Okay..." Natsu doesn't know about the reason but it seems like the training ended just like that. He wondered about her reason of doing so. He didn't do anything wrong now, didn't he? If that was the case, he ought to apologize to her soon. Wendy on the other hand, tried to stand up with her feet but was shocked to find that she haven't gotten the strength to get back on her knees for some reason.
"What's wrong, Wendy?" Natsu asked worriedly as he walked beside her.
"Eh? That's strange... I can't seem to stand up." She tried to force her way up but her feet seemed to weak to move. She was just able to move them just a while ago. It's strange that she suddenly lose strength because of that.
"Really, it looks like you were pushing yourself to hard..." Natsu assumed before scratching his head with a shrugged expression. He thought something for a moment before moving right in front of her and knelt down, facing his back towards her. "Here. I'll help you."
Wendy blinked for a few moments before realizing of what he was trying to do.
"I-It's okay, Natsu. I just need a few seconds until I can stand up." She tried to move her knees but instead, she felt a pain stinging from the inside after trying move it.
"See? Your feet are sore from today's training... Really, you always tried to overwork yourself..." He shrugged before motioning himself and simply carried the bluenette on his back and held her knees together to prevent her from falling.
"N-Natsu! W-What are you doing?!" She squeaked nervously and embarrassingly as she found herself in a piggy back ride from the pinkette.
"Carrying you back... You can't move on your own now, right? I'll help you get back on the lodge." He reasoned.
"I-I know that but..." She stammered.
"But what?"
"I-It's kinda embarrassing." She whispered. It took only a few seconds for him to understand what she was trying to say until he finally chuckled. "W-What?"
"Is that so? I don't mind it if it was you..." He grinned but it didn't help her at all as she was left to hide her face from him once again.
Standing again for a moment to make sure he's got a hold of her, Natsu and Wendy slowly began their way back to the lodge. Neither the two of them spoke on the way as Wendy went silent, feeling the warmth of his back colliding to her body, comforting her as they continued their journey.
"Can I ask something, Wendy?" Natsu suddenly spoke behind her.
"Of course..."
"The next time we train, don't push yourself too much, okay?" He softly replied in which got her somehow surprised in the process as she gazed on his back in wonder.
"... Don't hesitate to ask me anything, okay? Really, don't make me worry too much." He shrugged. The sky dragonslayer could only stare at his warm gaze as he glanced back towards her with a reassuring smile of his own. Slowly, shadowing her expression as she rested her head to his back. With a huge blush coming out from her cheeks, Wendy could only stutter herself as she tried to say those words to him.
"N-Natsu... I...I...I-" She couldn't say it. Even though he reassured her that she was welcomed to ask him anything, she still didn't have the courage to say it in front of him. Her heart is starting beat fast as she tried to complete her statement once more. It was then Natsu noticed it and looked back at her in confusion.
"You what?"
"N-Nothing... Thank you..." She softly spoke. Natsu could only smile in response as he carried her along the way towards the lodge. Without knowing, Wendy could only frown to herself for not being able to express her feelings towards him. She didn't have enough courage to say it right in front of him. She also probably feared of what his answer might be. A part of her soon felt regret about her actions and could not help but feel sad about it.
However, this is fine to her. Perhaps someday, she would finally able to tell him how she felt about him. For now, she will only treasure her moments with him. That's all that matters to her right now.
Softly nestling her head on his back, Natsu noticed her happy face and could not help but smile in return. Turning back towards his direction, he continued to walk with her as they straddled along the seashore with the night finally descending down to the world and brought out the beautiful night sky that they gazed upon the stars flickering on the heavens.
One week later...
The group was steadily making progress as they kept their training session in place with Gray focusing on different types and shapes of molding in order to expand his creativity in making more complex ice molding magic on his own. Lucy was meditating in order of her to expand her own powers as well and to enhance her magical power and stamina to last throughout longer battles. Erza was still as sharp as ever, she had been practicing her sword skills straight. Levy was busy focusing her own as well if not for the constant intervention of Jet and Droy fawning over her by showing their strengths.
Juvia was training somewhere, presumably at sea where most of her powers were being used there as she carried multiple tonnes of water in air, hoping for her to expand her stamina as well.
And lastly, Natsu and Wendy were training with each other as always with the latter greatly improving over the past few days as she was finally able to master the first spell handed down to her by Grandine in the written papers. In the past few days, she was able to test out the spell for the first time but resulted into a disaster as she accidentally destroyed a part of the forest, leaving some of the trees to be torn down from the force of the wind she created.
As of now, she was trying to keep it at a minimum as she tried to train herself in terms of close-combat quarters in the company of the pinkette who happily trained with her.
"Phew... You're finally getting the hang of it... Instead of attacking me with full force, you're doing it in swift attacks..." Natsu remarked as the bluenette wiped a bead of sweat from her forehead before smiling in determination.
"Well, my magic isn't really that suited for strong attacks... So I resorted to my speed instead."
"I guess, we should take a break then." Natsu proposed as they actually lost track of time and finally lowered their guard and met up with their two Exceeds located at the sidelines. They were watching their fight for quite some time now as both of them simply ate their lunch as the two dragonslayers came into view.
"Good work, you two... Even though seven years has passed, you were still able to improve yourselves in the upcoming games." Carla handed down a towel towards the bluenette in which she accepted it.
"I didn't do much... Wendy's got more improvements than I am." Natsu reasoned.
"Well, it's because you had nothing more to improve, seeing that you were able to become strong and eventually got Wendy under your teachings... I just hope that she won't follow your footsteps of destruction." Carla joked.
"Carla!" Wendy scolded.
"Well, I'm awesome... I can't wait for the games..."
"Aye!"
"Well, leaving that aside, we're finally making some progress... For the Tenrou Group that is." Carla looked over to the other members who were coming towards them as they assembled their team once more. Both Erza and Lucy stood before the four together with the others who had just finished their training for today.
"Our progress is moving steadily faster than I thought... If we were able to keep this pace then those 3 months will be enough for us to catch up to this world." Erza deduced as she wiped a bead of sweat from her head.
"Sure..." Levy agreed.
"Even so, I kinda think that 3 months isn't enough for us, considering the years that transpired after that incident in Tenrou Island however, seeing our effectiveness in training, we should be able to make it." Lucy smiled.
"Aye!"
"Hoooh! I can't wait to prove those other guilds' about our overwhelming power! I'm all fired up!" Natsu shouted in determination.
Everyone seemed to agree on their progress since a week has passed and they were already feeling stronger than ever. Just a few months left until the start of the games. They needed to pour everything in their power in order to become stronger and reclaim the title of the strongest guild in Fiore. That's the goal that they're aiming to achieve to make their guild proud and also repay their debts from the First Master who saved the group from Acnologia.
Everything was going smooth until Virgo instantly appeared out of nowhere right beside Lucy, sitting in a collected manner, shocking the whole group in response.
"Princess... We have an emergency." She stoically spoke.
"Virgo!" Lucy exclaimed in surprise along with the others.
"Woah! The maid spirit! It's been a long time since I last saw you!" Natsu delightfully replied.
"Why are you here?! And learn to remind me if you ever going to force your way through the gate without my permission!"
"Am I ready for punishment?" She quickly brought up her usual masochistic side of hers which made the group to sweatdrop in response. Well, leaving that aside, everyone began to wonder about the message that she was trying to inform to the celestial mage. Something must be afoot.
"You were saying about an emergency?" Gray suddenly asked in curiosity in which everyone followed as they noticed a change of expression on the celestial spirit.
"Yes... The celestial realm is in dire situation and we need you all to help us for that matter." She bowed sincerely.
"Of course, we will help out... Just point the enemy and we're smashing them afterwards." Natsu flared up in determination but it was not long before Lucy interrupted the conversation.
"Wait a moment! Normal people cannot travel in the celestial spirit world, you know..."
"That's no problem. We can provide you celestial clothes in order for a safe passage in the world... Are you all ready?" Despite her warning, she began to glow in magical power as the group was enveloped into some kind of bright light that soon began to consume everyone, much to their shock and surprise.
And without giving them time to react, Virgo had finally sent them all towards the celestial realm as the light shone towards the sky and left a trail of stardust in the vicinity. As soon as the dust settled, Jet and Droy were the ones left on the beach, much to their shock since they thought they were included in the travel towards the celestial world.
"H-Hey, where is everyone?!"
"W-Why are we left here?"
...
...
...
The celestial realm was definitely different from the human world. Instead of being filled with landmasses and huge seas, the realm was seemingly a blue dark void that stretched far into infinity. To compensate for the missing lands, the world is filled with several planet-like orbs that float around in space, making it seemed like a different world. Lights and stars shone bright from all places, crystals seemed to grow also on most places accompanied with star hazes that emanate colorful lights in all places.
Natsu and the others landed on top of each other as the portal appeared right above the entrance which caused everyone to lose their composure for a moment until finally recovering and tried to gain footing on the foreign world. Virgo simply landed beside them before gesturing her hand from the group and towards the path where they were supposed to go.
"Welcome to the celestial spirit world... I changed your clothes accordingly so you may not have any trouble in staying here for quite some time now." The maiden spirit explained.
"Alright! Now, what's the situation?! Who are the enemies?! Where can we find them?" Natsu asked excitedly.
"Natsu... Calm down." Erza reminded before putting up a light glare at him in which he immediately obeyed. Sighing for a moment, Erza looked around her surroundings and cannot help but be amazed by its vibrant appearance. It's nothing like the world that they used to live in.
"So this is the celestial realm, huh?" Gray stated.
"It's beautiful!" Wendy exclaimed in joy.
"Welcome, my old friends... Thank you all for coming!" A rather large booming sound of a male voice swept past the group as they all turned around towards the entrance and eventually had their eyes widened like white saucers as their heads glanced above the giant plate-armored humanoid standing right before them in a matter of seconds.
The giant creature was consisted of armor all over his body. From his open helmet situated on his head to his armor-clad boots, the humanoid creature is seemingly related to that of a knight. A giant large cape is seen behind his back and an extremely long mustache is seen on his face which diagonally reaches to his upper torso, much to Natsu and Happy's surprise and bewilderment.
"Mustache!"
"Long mustache!"
With the two commenting freely on his prominent feature, the humanoid creature simply sported a large grin towards them until Lucy began to speak after realizing the giant figure in front of them.
"You're the... ... Celestial Spirit King!" She exclaimed out in surprise for having to him once more. It's probably a long time since she last saw him during her time with Loke's problem several years back but she never though that she would meet him again for the second time.
"So... you're the king of this world..." Erza gazed longingly at the giant figure which made the others to sweatdrop at her display of calmness despite meeting a ruler of the celestial realm.
"I've heard that the celestial spirit world is in a state of a serious crisis... Is it true?" Lucy soon began to discuss about the problem as the group began to back up and followed the celestial mage.
The Celestial Spirit King was silent for a moment before only putting up a chuckle under his breathe as he gestured himself into a welcoming manner with a laid-back attitude which contradicts his character despite being a ruler of the celestial realm. After that, several of their celestial spirit friends began to appear right beside the king and simply did the same as him before speaking towards the group.
"Lucy and her other friends! Welcome back from that timeskip! Let's party!"
As soon as they said that, Natsu and the others could only put up a blank response towards the denizens of the celestial spirit world. Their bodies froze as they were simply dumbfounded at the reaction of the people before them.
"WWWWWHHHHHAAAAATTTTTT!"
It was then Lucy turned over to the culprit who invited them here in the first place. Eyes glared over to the maiden spirit as she simply stared at them with a stoic look.
"But you said that there's a serous crisis...!" A playful chuckle and a tilted head was the only thing she did until the whole group went down to the floor in realization.
"YOU LIED TO US!"
A couple of celestial spirits chuckled and laughed along their reactions as they soon expressed their apologies one by one and also their reasons of bringing them to their world.
"Sorry about that... We just wanted to surprise you." Aries shyly smiled alongside with the others.
"We wanted to celebrate for your return and this is the plan we made so far."
"We couldn't get to the human realm all at once so we decided to invite you all here instead."
With multiple reasons coming from the other celestial spirits, everyone seemed to calm down and realize the situation. They invited them here just to celebrate their friends' return although two people among the group aren't really included in the timeskip phase. Nevertheless, they couldn't deny the smiles creeping out from their lips as they faced excitedly at their celestial spirit friends.
"I see! I get what you're trying to say! Count me in!" Natsu gleefully spoke along with the other spirits.
"Let's party, my old friends! Let's enjoy, drink and celebrate to our hearts' content!" The Celestial Spirit King began demonstrating his energetic nature to which everyone followed him as they all began to party with the others.
Both human and spirit partied alongside with each other as each of them conversed with each other like old times.
"It's been awhile, Loke." Gray spoke to his partner.
"Yeah... I'm sorry about the trial."
"It's alright... It's all in the past. Plus, if it weren't for Grimoire Heart we won't be doing this in the first place." The Regulus user could only chuckle.
"Right... Though that timeskip did a lot to you all."
"I can't say no to that... But I guess, time just keeps moving."
..
..
On the other hand, Wendy and Lucy had found themselves talking with Horologium with the former expressing her thanks to her savior back at Tenrou Island.
"T-Thank you for your help back at Tenrou Island, Horologium-san." The bluenette smiled softly at the celestial spirit clock who could only express a faint smile towards her in return.
"Oh, you're welcome though might I add, you seemed different from before... The last time I saw you is that you were a little girl back then." He noted after seeing her features.
"Oh that! Well, a lot of things happened here and there but I was able to grow myself in the past seven years." She explained which confused the spirit.
"It's pretty complicated to tell about but there's nothing to worry about it." Lucy reassured.
And the celebration went on as Natsu and the others happily enjoyed their time in the celestial world. The clamor didn't stop and everyone was completely amazed at the majestic sight of the celestial realm since they were the first humans to ever set foot on such a world. However, the spirit of brawling in Fairy Tail never ceased as Natsu eventually got into heated debate with Loke who was trying to hit on Wendy for some reason since she was already at a fine age that everyone in the spirit realm didn't seem to notice beforehand. The fight subsided with Erza who simply silenced the two males with a lecture and stern look of anger.
"Even so, this is pretty amazing, don't you think?" Gray remarked before being flooded by a multitude of Plues around him.
"I'm actually surprised too... To think that the celestial spirit world would be this brilliant." Lucy spoke beside him and it was not long until the Celestial Spirit King spoke beside them.
"We have plenty of friends but you were the first guests that we invited here so it should be expected. After all, we are all friends." The king smiled in relief in which Lucy could only return the favor.
"Man, having you here must be jackpot... we're lucky to have you here." Gray grinned before patting the blonde-haired mage head, much to Juvia's shock and irritation as she stalked the two behind the pillar in complete jealousy.
"Grrrr... Gray-sama must only to that to Juvia... Love rival!" She hissed.
..
..
On some other parts of the place, Wendy eventually stumbled into some pearl located at the near corners of the dinner table with Carla following her. They've been exploring much of the place since everything was new to them and curiosity got the best of her as she just can't stop wandering around, looking at bizarre yet amazing things around her.
"What is this?" Wendy asked curiously as she glanced about towards Aries who was accompanying her.
"Ah, this is the Pearl of Revelations. Just like the name implies, it's sort of a fortune teller which reveals your secrets when your mind thinks about certain things and topics." The celestial ram spirit stated.
"How does it work?"
"Well, you just move right in front of it and close your eyes and think of something about a topic with your secret intact. After that, the pearl will reveal it right in front of you. Here, let me try." She beamed before moving over to the pearl and closed her eyes. Wendy and Carla watched carefully as the reflection of the pearl itself began to distort before forming patterns of letters until it finally revealed a word in it.
"Wow! That's amazing!" Wendy exclaimed in joy.
"See? I thought about my favorite food and it shows just my secret favorite food of all! How about you try it?" Aries looked at the uncertain bluenette who only flailed her arms in denial.
"I-It's okay... I don't have any secrets at the moment."
"Aw, come on... Everyone has one secret or two... Come on, give it a try!" She insisted as she pulled the indecisive dragonslayer right before the pearl as she was left to stare nervously at the object right in front of him.
What to think? What to think? She can't even any decent topics that would reveal her secret... She could only wonder about herself though. Breathing slowly to slowly concentrate herself, Wendy closed her eyes and decided to pick randomly whatever comes out in his mind.
.
.
One topic came into her mind in a flash. 'The person she truly loves and cares deeply.'
Slowly opening her eyes, Wendy waited for the pearl to reveal the answer as both Carla and Aries were left to peek behind her head as the letters soon scrambled that of a name, shocking the bluenette in response of the answer.
"N..A..T..S..U"
Without warning, she stumbled right away and blushed heavily on the answer of the pearl as two of her companions were left to ponder about the answer though the Exceed was easy to catch up of what she thought at the pearl itself. She sweated a small smirk came out from her best friend's lips while Aries was left confused at the answer.
"Isn't that the name of that rosy-haired boy with you?" She asked curiously.
"Yes... But more importantly, what was the question? Would you like to tell us about it, Wendy?" Carla changed her tone in a teasing manner as Wendy could feel that she was beginning suspect something between the two of them.
"What did you think in the pearl, Wendy-san?" Aries asked curiously. The bluenette was just glad that she was quite an airhead but she couldn't get away from the Exceed who got her cornered with her suspicions as she was left blushing despite trying to hide it from them.
"I...I...I didn't wish anything at all!" She poorly excused herself.
"That's impossible... Once the pearl reveals something, it means that you made a thought before opening your eyes." Aries explained.
"B-But I didn't-" Before she could even reply, Natsu came into view, much to the three's surprise.
"Yo! Wendy! I was wondering if you could-" At the same time, he wasn't able to finish his statement as he literally blown away with a torrent of wind from the bluenette who hastily made a desperate move to keep him away since the pearl is still haven't been able to disperse the name and the person in question is nearby so she had no choice.
"Kyaaaaaaah!" With an ear-piercing shout, Wendy screamed in embarrassment as Natsu was blown away from her.
"Gaaaaaah!" Of course, Natsu definitely needed a shout until he crashed into one of the tables as he went dizzy for a moment until Wendy realized of what she had done. Running over to the downed pinkette, Wendy instantly tried to apply her healing spell towards him as fast as she could.
"I-I'm sorry!"
"I-It's okay... I kinda wind up thrown a couple of times in my lifetime." He chuckled despite his dizziness. Meanwhile, Carla was left behind near the pearl as Aries had also tried made their way towards the two on worry. She gazed over to the pearl as the name became to distort once again and not before long it created another message which clearly shows the question that her dragonslayer had thought out earlier.
Smiling in relief, Carla could only shrug at it before turning back to the two as the message finally disappeared.
"So that's what it is..."
..
..
..
Eventually, a day has passed as the group had begun packing up to return to their world, seeing that their party had soon come to an end. Everyone were preparing themselves at the portal that leads them back to the human world as they all sent their farewells with the other spirits who were waiting at the sidelines with some having some teary smiles, seeing that they actually had fun together. They will not forget this day.
"Farewell, everyone! Please take care of Lucy!"
"Don't forget to call us anytime!"
"You were so deeply loved by them." Erza smiled at the celestial mage beside her.
"They were my precious friends." Lucy wiped a small tear from her eye as she soon took one last glance onto her celestial spirit friends before they all glowed in bright light as they were finally beginning to return back to Earthland.
"May all the stars forever guide you on your journeys, my dear friends!" The Celestial Spirit King smiled in content as all the other spirits began waving their hands towards their human friends.
"Yosh! I'm all fired up than ever before! Now I can finally eve train myself further!" Natsu flexed his muscles with confidence.
"Don't go anywhere without me, Flame-brain! I'll catch up to you in no time." Gray taunted.
"You wish!"
"By the way, there's something that I'd like to tell regarding the time here in this world." Virgo reminded.
"Oh! You mean that 1 year here in the celestial world equals to 1 day in the real world?" Both Natsu and Gray spoke expectantly at the maiden spirit.
"No... Actually, it's the opposite... 1 day in the celestial world equals 3 months to that of the real world." She blurted out which caused many of the group to fall into an utterly blank expression.
"Eh?" Without giving them time to say anymore than that, the group were already sent back to Earthland, completely dumbfounded at the revelation of the time intervals between two worlds.
After returning to the beach, Jet and Droy soon came into view, seeing that their friends finally returned to the real world after three months of waiting.
"Hey, guys! Welcome back! I bet you trained very hard at the celestial world!"
"How did it go? The Grand Magic Games will be starting off in the next five days."
Those two questions greatly impacted the group, especially to the Tenrou Group as Natsu, Wendy, Gray and Erza simply slumped themselves to the ground together with the Exceeds before inhaling very deeply and-
"OH... MY... GOD...!"
Meanwhile, Lucy shouted with all her might at the heavens, cursing the king of the celestial realm despite being worlds apart. I swear that she would really have the knack giving a beating or two at her spirit friends for not informing them beforehand. Well, I guess, it's too late now.
"YOU DAMN MUSTACHE, BASTARD! ! ! !"
A/N: And that's a wrap! Sorry guys for not uploading at the early time. I have two reasons for that; one is celebrating with family and two, my laptop got corrupted and wrecked all my files, including my stories in which I putted on docx files. Sadly, I cannot open them and was forced to reformat the whole laptop as a result. I was halfway through the chapter before that happened and fortunately, I kept a back-up folder of my stories on my hard-drive and tried for a clean run once again. It's a good thing that I backed it up just a few days ago. Who knows what would happen if I failed to do that. It was also the same reason why I didn't response much to the previous chapter's reviews so I hope you understand.
Despite being saved, I have restart all over again on the chapter. :(
I'm currently using our computer since I wanted my laptop to have a clean run before I could use it again.
And so that's my problems for not uploading. Hope you guys forgive me :( I'll try to post more frequent as possible until we can finally move on to the GMG arc in which I had already deviated to my own set of games and match-ups in the future. Stay tuned!
Reviews are still welcome. I will try to respond to them as soon as I can when I have the time. I have to fix this problem first.
See ya all in the next chapter!
- wiErD SpeCtrumz blacking out... ... ...