I do not own Fairy Tail, Hiro Mashima does!

I've gotten a couple of complaints about people saying I'm not using transitions between different times right, but no one will say what I'm doing wrong. If anyone can shed some light on it I would greatly appreciate it!

Chapter 14: Broken Promises

It was yet another day in Magnolia, the sun was high and there were few clouds on the horizon. People were running all about town without a care in the world, everyone felt that it was a great day and went about with a smile on their faces. Fairy Tail was not to be left out of the festivities though as today was an especially joyous occasion for the guild. Anyone that passed the open doors was deafened by the continuous cheers and toasts, but no matter how much they cheered their happiness was nothing compared to the reason they were cheering.

Juvia had entered the guild positively glowing, dragging a stunned Gray behind her. Her announcement of her pregnancy had taken the guild by surprise for only a few moments until Mira squealed in joy. No one dared to leave the guild that day, missions were forgotten, appointments were ignored, and potential clients were swept up in the party.

Juvia had immediately been dragged off by a few of the women to question her about her plans. They wanted to know everything. Lisanna and Mirajane were busy running drinks back and forth to everyone, trying to listen and talk with the expecting couple as much as they could in between trips to get more alcohol, making sure to keep Juvia's teacup full at all times.

"When did you find out?"

"Do you know what it is going to be?"

"Have you thought of a name?"

"Do you have morning sickness?"

Juvia blushed and couldn't hide the smile that was plastered across her lips, unsure of who to answer first. "Juvia just found out today that she is two months along…"

The women were soon drowned out by a fight breaking out between Gray and Natsu. "I didn't know you had it in you stripper!"

"Stop calling me that, pinky!"

"Has the ice princess gone soft at hearing they are going to be a father!"

Gray stood silent for a moment, his glare quickly changing into that of a grin, his entire body reacting with the joy he felt. "Just another thing you lose in!" Gray yelled.

"My kids are going to be a hundred times stronger than yours!" Natsu challenged, a grin spreading across his own face in happiness for his best friend/rival.

"You don't even have kids yet!"

"You just needed a head start to even be a challenge!" Natsu yelled back, lighting a flame over his fist.

"Bring it on, flame brain!" Gray cried out slamming his fist into the palm of his hand. The two threw themselves at one another in the same instant, fists connecting halfheartedly at first, fire and ice flying past them in all directions. That was all it took for the guild to erupt into a full-fledged battle, laughs and cries comingling in the air.

Crash!

Natsu felt several tables slow his movement as he was knocked back until he slammed into the bar. He laughed and sat up to watch as the battle started to taper off so everyone could go back to the party, drinking and just all around making a ruckus to celebrate the new arrival to the guild. Natsu let out a grunt as Cana slammed her barrel of alcohol against him. "Drink!" She commanded. He obliged with a laugh, upending the barrel to chug a few mouthfuls before tossing it back to her.

Natsu picked himself up off the ground and scanned the guild, taking notice that Mirajane and Lucy were both surrounding Juvia and he couldn't help but wonder at what the two would react like if they found out they were in fact pregnant. He smiled and shook his head, it would happen when it happened and he accepted that. There was no need to force the issue yet. Natsu closed his eyes and listened to the guild run about loudly, crying out about how good it would be to have some kids running around again.

Natsu peeked an eye out and saw Makarov wipe away a single tear in joy. "I can't believe how fast everyone has grown up." The master mumbled to himself, thinking no one heard him.

xXxXxXxXxXx

Natsu blinked against the sleep in his eyes, shaking his head to try and get some of the alcohol out of his head to make the room stop spinning. A small whimper snapped Natsu out of his head, the pressure against his chest tightening as the girl sucked in a breath only to release it in a shaky sigh. Natsu immediately reprimanded himself for falling asleep. As gently as he could, Natsu pushed the long blue hair out of Wendy's eyes. She flinched at the sudden touch, crying harder. "Shhhh… It's okay Wendy, it's just me." He whispered quietly to sooth the crying girl. Leaning back against the wall, he wrapped his arms around her back, pulling her tighter against him while rubbing her back gently.

"I-I'm… s-sorry I w-woke y-you…" Wendy said as another wave of emotions rolled over her, his gentle touch soothing her slightly. She pressed her forehead to his chest in an attempt to calm herself and felt him set his chin on top of her head. He shook his head gently at her, offering comforting words that she hadn't woken him. "I hate you." She whispered gripping his vest tighter, pulling herself closer to his warmth. 'She really has grown over the years…' He thought absently. Natsu closed his eyes and nodded, thinking she was simply mad and needed someone to take her aggression out at.

Everything fell silent once more, small snores and her light ragged breathing the only sounds that filled the guild. Most had gone home after the celebration had ended, but those that had stayed still lay wherever sleep took them over. Gray and Juvia had been the first two to leave and return home, preferring to have her be comfortable in her bed rather than the hard wooden benches of the guild hall.

"I can't believe he actually let me leave…" Wendy said finally breaking the silence, pushing herself back from Natsu's chest in an attempt to put herself back together. "What did I do? Why did I have to question him like that? Why couldn't I just let things be?" She was on the brink of breaking down again, tears welling up in her eyes. Natsu forced a small smile to his lips and wiped away her tears. He wanted nothing more than to hunt Romeo down and maul the guy, but it was more important that he stay here and help Wendy by comforting her, giving her someone to confess her worries to.

"I'm here for you Wendy, whatever you need, you but have to say it." He asked in an attempt to take her mind off the other man. "Why don't I take you away? We can go on a job, it's been awhile. It would be nice to catch up with you. Maybe even get the old team back together for a few days?" He offered.

Wendy smiled softly and hit his shoulder gently. "A while? It has been over six years, Natsu-san. But you are right, it would be good to get out for a while, maybe take some aggression out. When you left… We all had to step up and get stronger to protect the guild. I had to stop being a burden on everyone so I learned how to fight." She closed her eyes and fell against his chest again. "Thank you again for letting me stay with you tonight, and I'm sorry for taking you away from Lucy-san and Mira-san… I didn't know who else to turn to, most of the guild doesn't understand what it's like for us, and Gajeel is always too cold, Laxus just doesn't come around enough that I don't trust going to him… With you back, I didn't have any other choice…"

He stopped her small rant by patting her head, running his fingers through her soft hair. "I'm always with them, so you don't have to worry about that. No matter where I go…" He tapped his heart. "I take them with me. Besides, I couldn't say no to you when you needed someone to talk to, a shoulder to cry on. And you know as well as I do that they don't see it as stealing me away from them, you are like a sister to them."

Wendy smiled and turned to see the two women not far off, sitting on the floor with their backs up against an overturned table, their sleeping bodies leaned against one another with their hands folded together neatly. "I never asked. Why Mira-san?" She asked suddenly, using his love life as a distraction from her own. "I understand why you are with Lucy-san, she was your partner in just about everything you did. You were bound to have some feelings for her one way or another. But with Mira-san… I have never seen you around her like that. I never saw you two interact together other than when it came to exchanging new missions, or when she would have to intervene when you and Gray would fight and Erza wasn't around. I always thought that you would end up with Lisanna instead, that before you confessed to Lucy, you would ask her out. Everyone even told me that when you two were children, you always talked about getting married."

"It wasn't always like that." Natsu said with a small whine. "She always said she was going to be my wife and that we would raise Happy together as a family… Back then I might have thought about it once or twice, but never anything serious. One day she died, or rather went to Edolas. After she disappeared, I was lost. She was my best friend, she was more important to me than anyone else at the time and then she was just gone. Mira was the one that helped me get through it, I have a lot to thank her for just being there for me throughout the whole thing. She was always so strong in front of everyone, being that rock for them that they all needed despite having just lost her own sister. She saved me from myself by being around, making me take things day by day. We got closer as I started to rely on her more and more, until I saw what she was really going through. It killed me to see her hold in her tears, to force herself to be strong for everyone else's sake while sacrificing her own sanity so as to not worry anyone. I decided that if she could be that for me, I could be that for her. She could cry around me, she could let out her anguish and I wouldn't judge her, just let her let everything out."

Wendy listened and nodded, knowing how hard it was to lose someone and not know what to do about it. Natsu had been that person for her back in Cait Shelter. "Then why were you two never together? If you two meant so much to one another, why weren't there any feelings?"

"Lisanna." Natsu answered, looking over to stare at Mira for a moment. "There were feelings there and more than once we talked about admitting them, about what we could be to one another. It always came back to Lisanna. We felt it would betray her memory, so we spent less time together to ensure we didn't cross that line. The less we saw of each other, the more we were sure that it was the right thing to do, so we ended up just seeing one another at the guild, letting time take our feelings from us. It was before the need to really find my mate took over, so I didn't understand at the time what I was giving up. Even after Lisanna came back, we couldn't get back together, too much time had passed and we didn't know if we should pick up where we left off or if we should even try again. Eventually all that was left between us was the smile that she would give me when I took another job, the same one she gives me now. Lisanna however… she was different, we could never be as close as we once were. Something about her had changed, or maybe it was me that had changed. No matter what I did, I couldn't feel the same way about her as I had before she was gone; maybe it was because every time I was around her, I felt her sister holding me while I cried and guilt kept me from pursuing her."

"After I finally decided on my feelings for Lucy and she turned me down, Mira come over to cheer me up. She was trying to be that girl that she had been when her sister had left." Natsu said sadly, not hiding his smile at the memory. "But I couldn't do anything at the time, I thought I had found that one person I needed and I couldn't be with her… It was too late. I had marked Lucy, so Mira could be nothing for me, even if she didn't want me."

Wendy pushed herself back off Natsu's lap, realizing just how close she had pulled herself over the course of the night before taking a seat next to him, clutching his arm tightly as she pressed against his side, still wanting to be near him. "So you decided to run?"

Natsu nodded woodenly. "I had to. I was forcing Lucy into something she hadn't wanted at the time. I couldn't stand to see the way Mira was torn apart by everything again." He sighed and closed his eyes. "Count yourself among the lucky ones Wendy. Neither Gajeel nor I had a choice on who we could mark. Female Dragon Slayers somehow have the ability to choose their mate."

Wendy shook her head. "That isn't how it works. It isn't that we choose who we want, our instincts just aren't as defined as yours are. Since we have to bear the child, our ability lets us mask our mating instincts until we are ready to find that one person that can properly take care of us and give us the child that our instincts want."

Natsu chuckled and wrapped his arm around her, pulling her tight against his side, feeling every angle on her body that had changed over the past six years. He kissed the top of her head and smiled at how comfortable he felt holding her. 'Stop thinking like that! She is in pain, don't turn this into something it isn't!' he reprimanded himself in his head. "You will find that guy one day Wendy. Now, why don't you explain what happened between you and Romeo before I go find him myself and beat it out of him?"

Wendy took a deep breath and looked down at her hands. "I broke up with him." She offered quietly.

Natsu raised an eyebrow to her. "You already told me that. It doesn't explain why you took it so hard, or even why you did it. You looked happy with him."

"That's because he always reminded me of you." She whispered, not expecting Natsu to hear it. He let his eyes widen slightly, but left it alone, it wasn't for him to interrupt her. Wendy regained her thoughts and pushed him away. "It's your fault anyways!" Natsu recoiled at the sudden outburst and was about to question her when she softened and kept talking. "I saw him kiss one of the other girls in town about a week ago… I avoided him as long as I could, but tonight was just too much and I couldn't do it, he pulled me aside to ask me what was wrong… I confronted him about the kiss. He told me I was overreacting, that the kiss didn't mean all that much yet, but that he hadn't been happy for a little while. He hadn't wanted to tell me about dating her as well because he wanted to see where things would go with her first."

Natsu grabbed her and drew her into a tight hug, clenching his eyes shut to keep his anger back. "I'm so sorry Wendy. I don't know what to say, but at least I know that when I see him I'll know what to say to him…"

She ignored his comment. "He always wanted to be like you. He said that if someone as strong as you could have two women, then why couldn't he. You have both Lucy and Mira… he thought it would have been okay if he found another girl… He told me he was happy leaving things the way they were because he didn't want to wait until I was ready to give myself to him completely to have sex with someone, so he had decided to find someone to help him with his 'needs'. He even got mad at me when I told him to choose this new girl or me, saying I had no right to ask so much of him, to take pleasure from him just because I didn't want to have sex… I told him more about how Dragon Slayer's love, which they give their everything, and it couldn't be taken back once it was given. He said he loved me, but it wouldn't be enough to only be with me! Because you had two women, he thought he needed more than me!" Tears welled up in her eyes out of pain and anger before they finally started to fall down her cheeks.

Natsu grabbed her shoulders and pushed her out to an arm's length to look into her eyes, grabbing her chin when she tried to look away. "Listen to me. No man has the right to assume he is strong enough for more than one woman, or too good to only be with one woman. Especially if that woman is you. Anyone that isn't willing to throw away everything to be with you is crazy. The fact that he even thought he could make you understand why he wanted to be with anyone else just blows my mind." He couldn't believe that Romeo had tried to do this to Wendy, but was disgusted that it was so close to his own situation, that Romeo had based his decision off of Natsu's love life.

Wendy must have had thought the same thing. "Then why do you put Mira and Lucy through this? Why are you good enough for two women? How is what you are doing any different from what he did to me?" She was screaming at him now, rousing the few people that were left in the guild. They all cast glares at him, but he glared back at them to ensure they would remain silent before he turned back to the woman in front of him.

"I never said my situation was different from what you are going through Wendy." He said softly. "I know they deserve better than what I am putting them through, that I will never be able to give them what they deserve in life, and I will spend every single day that I am with them to make them happier and do everything I can to try to make up for this. I did not force them into this though, I was willing to take the mark from Lucy and let my pain stay the way it was. When Mira came to me, knowing that she would never have my full heart, that a part of me would always be for Lucy, she accepted. She knew that they may not be the only ones, but they still chose me. I would die before I purposely hurt them. If they choose one day that they have had enough of me, I would let them go. I would take their mark back into me and let them walk away." His throat tightened at the thought of them leaving him, either of them. "They make me happier than I have a right to. If they demanded that I choose, I wouldn't be able to do it, hell… I couldn't do it. When you find that mate you are searching for, maybe you will understand what I mean." Natsu said quietly. Finally looking up into her eyes he pulled her closer to him, breathing in deeply as he tried to calm the torrent of emotions spreading through him. Her smell was enchanting and…

A sudden realization of where his thoughts were planning on leading caused him to shove the woman back from him before scrambling back away from her. His eyes never left Wendy's surprised gaze, the confused look that questioned why he had acted like that. Her eyes widened as she swore she could see a red and black shadow crawl out of Natsu's back, as if it was his essence coming out to show her what he wanted. "I'm sorry…" He whispered. She gasped when she saw it was a dragon and she shook slightly at the hungry look it was giving her before she looked down into Natsu's eyes and saw fear and regret. "Natsu?" She asked quietly, moving towards him. Her small movement towards him caused him to flinch, throwing him back further before standing and running out of the guild hall from the confused women.

Lucy and Mirajane both watched as Natsu fled from their sights, having felt the desire roll through their bond with him. They turned back to Wendy, who stared at the door as if something had been ripped away from her. "You know what you saw, don't you?" Lucy asked her before sliding over to the blue haired Dragon Slayer. Wendy nodded and fell against the woman. "I don't think you have to worry about it." Mirajane said taking a seat on the other side. "The way his emotions fought against his instincts there… he won't try anything, especially after what happened with you and Romeo."

Wendy looked down at her hands. "I'm not afraid of it." She said quietly. "I'm not afraid of him trying to mark me… What makes me worry is that I wanted him to… As soon as I saw that… It was as if he was calling for me to love him with everything in his heart. I don't want to be just another woman to him, though. I want to find someone that I can be 'the one' for… I want to find my one and only…"

Mirajane and Lucy shared a look before looking back down at the Dragon Slayer between them. They couldn't consider her a girl any longer, she had grown too much for that, but they couldn't help but feel her pain at the thought. They themselves had wanted that before they had known what they could have with Natsu. They were both willing to give up anything to be with him, even if it meant sharing him. "Shouldn't you go after him?" Wendy asked quietly.

"He'll be fine, Wendy." Lucy said.

"He can't go anywhere that we can't find him, he just needs some time to think all of this over and decide where exactly this might lead." Mirajane said agreeing with Lucy.

As always, R & R please!

Before you say anything about Wendy being too young and what not, remember this is six years AFTER they get back from Tenrou. And no, this sentence does not mean that he will choose Wendy as his very own Dragon Slayer mate. Why doesn't it mean that? Because I had to preemptively stop all the hate comments about how Natsu is a pedophile for going after a 12 year old girl. She isn't 12 anymore, so leave it alone.