Hello! I know it's been a while, but I promise that I've had a busy summer. Between, karate six days a week, not strangling annoying campers, and boring summer homework, it's been rough. I hope you enjoy this chapter even though my friend didn't have a chance to proofread it. :)
'Okay, category 5 psycho alert!' Was the first thought that raced through Natsu's head as he looked down at the fairy who had a blade against his throat. "H-how about you lower your knife and we talk this out?" The dragon slayer tried his best to keep his voice as friendly as possible. He didn't want to start an unnecessary fight in Flam's home and definitely not with someone who was clearly very loyal to her, no matter how much he liked to fight.
If the scarlet-eyed fairy was thinking about Natsu's suggestion, he certainly wasn't showing it on his face that was hardened into a scowl. Slowly, Carrie removed his dagger and re-sheathed it as he gradually lowered the pink-haired boy to the floor. 'That's good. It looks like he'll still listen to reason.' Natsu was worried about what have happened if the fairy refused to talk.
"Explain." It was an order spoken in a voice that dared you to question it or even think about talking back. The dragon slayer didn't particularly want to look into the eyes of the infuriated fairy, but did so anyway to prevent any suspicion of him lying.
Taking a deep breath, the teen readied himself to tell the story. "A while after you left Flam and me," The fairy's ear twitched at how informally the dragon slayer addressed his leader, but did not interrupt him. "we came across a small village near the base of 'dormant' volcano that was on the verge of erupting. At first it was just this little blob of lava that was crawling down the mountain side, but after Flam stopped that, the whole thing started to erupt!" The excellent storyteller Natsu was using his arms to help show exactly what the volcano had looked like. "Then, she started to use some weird spell that looked like words made of flames that flew everywhere and stopped the volcano. About an hour later, the sun started to set and a dragon, Fen Fen, found us and took us here." The dragon slayer ended while pointing at the floor with both index fingers. Both of them seemed to relax as the story unfolded, but a small amount of tension remained in the room.
The fairy seemed to be thinking deeply about the tale he just heard. 'Trying to stop a fully erupting volcano by herself would definitely cause Flamma-dono to lose consciousness.' He brought his hand up to cup his chin as he thought. 'But what was that other thing she mentioned when I saw her earlier.' He brought his eyes back up to meet the ones that belonged to the young dragon slayer. "Why are you here?" Although his face looked less threatening than it once was, Carrie's voice remained cold and unwavering.
Natsu took a second deep breathe. "Well, after fourteen years, I finally found my dad Igneel and then I met Flam, and she fought in some really weird way and took my magic out… I'm not really sure, I really wasn't paying attention when they explained it later, but anyway, after I asked Igneel a couple times he said that he would test me to make me a true dragon slayer, but said that I wasn't strong enough, so he sent me here with Flem for training." Slightly winded and gulping for air after his explanation, the dragon slayer watched the fairy's overwhelmed face as he processed all the information that had been thrown at him all at once.
"O...kay." Carrie didn't look like he knew how to deal with what he just heard, but decided to deal with the part he did understand. "Wait, where was the volcano that had erupted?" He thought it was odd that he didn't know about this other, threatening volcano.
"Um," Natsu thought for a moment. "I think it was that way." He answered, pointing a finger out the large double doors that were open to a pitch black sky. The fairy standing next to him sweatdropped.
'Yeah, 'cause that's reeeeeal helpful.' The scarlet-eyed fairy let out a small sigh. "Alright, I'll have some guys check it out tomorrow and see if it needs a more permanent seal." Carrie thought to himself for a moment. 'Now, what am I gonna do with him until Flamma-dono wakes-'
"There you are! I was wondering how we got back!" The empress of the fire fairies leaned over the side of the railing as she struggled to walk down the stairs back into the great hall.
"Flamma-dono! You should be resting!" Carrie instantly took flight up towards where his leader was just beginning to lose her grip on the mahogany banister. "What are you doing up?!" Worry ran out of his voice like water through a crack in a dam as he wrapped one of his arms around her slim waist to keep her from falling.
"I needed to find Natsu." She answered simply to the other fairy. "I promised Igneel-sama that I would train him for his test." The black-haired fairy let out a sigh.
"Well, you can't train him until you, yourself, recover." Suddenly, an devilish grin appeared on the queen's face.
"What about you?" Carrie visibly paled. Natsu had rushed over to the stairway as soon as the other fairy did, so he was able to hear most of the conversation.
'Eh?! I don't want to train with a guy who was holding a knife to my throat a few seconds ago.' The dragon slayer showed that he was displeased by the unfortunate expression plastered on his face.
"Don't be so overjoyed." The fairy responded to Natsu when she saw him. "It'll only be for a few days." She turned her head to the other fairy. "You too. I expect you to be the adult. Now, please take Natsu to a room he can use for the night. You'll start bright and early tomorrow morning and I don't want whining to be the first thing I hear."
"Yes, ma'am." Carrie muttering in return, allowing the queen to regain her grip on the handrail before turning his attention to the dragon slayer. "Follow me." He ordered, but not unkindly. 'How on Earth did I end up with baby-sitting duty?'
Wendy didn't even have time to think about screaming as the gryffon beneath her plummeted off of the cliff. The wind blasted past her face, causing her hair to fly wildly and her eyes to tear up slightly. Her brown eyes had been forced closed by the pressure of the speeding winds that tore past her. Her palms became clammy from holding onto the slick feathers of the gryffon for dear life. They continued to soar downward, the beast pushing mounds of clouds out of their way with giant wings. 'How high are we?! We've been falling for a long time.'
"You close your eyes a lot, don't you? If you don't open them, you won't be able to see the view." Ventus's voice cut through the deafening wind as the falling creature began to level out, flying on a new path horizontally instead of straight down. The gryffon slowed down only slightly, but it was enough to allow Wendy to open her eyes.
"Wow!" Spreading out in all directions was a glistening, bright blue ocean. Speckles of white drifted over the waves as they moved smoothly from the breeze. As she looked to her left, she caught sight of Ventus as he flew beside her beating his own feathered wings to keep up with the beast who carried her gently. As her gaze drifted upward, she caught sight of the brilliantly white clouds that covered the sky. A few lone puff-balls drifted just above the surface of the water, but they, too, parted for the winged creature to pass. The gryffon slowly lowered one of his taloned feet down to the water, creating a small trail of mist and spray where the surface was broken.
Wendy closed her eyes again, taking in a deep breath. She felt the salty air run its graceful fingers through her hair, caressing each strand, leaving a piece of itself behind as a gift. Not a single other living being was there besides the three of them, but that didn't stop the young dragon slayer from feeling the life that seemed to pulsate all around them. 'It's so beautiful, and so simple at the same time.' She had seen the ocean by Fiore many times and it always amazed her, but this one she was over right now was so different, she could hardly believe they were made of the same water.
"Well, I think that it's time we should be heading back, don't you? There's not really much to see here, but I thought you'd like it." The fairy said to the young girl while attempting to hide the small smile that crept to his lips. Wendy nodded in response, even though she truthfully wanted to stay a little longer.
The gryffon began to beat its feathered wings with much more force than before, causing them to pick up speed. Just as when they had gone down, the trio shot up through the enormously thick cloud layer that separated the ocean from the floating islands. "EEP!" Wendy nearly screamed as a bundle of swinging roots burst through the clouds only a few inches away from ripping her from the winged creature's back.
"That just means we're getting close, don't pay it any attention." Ventus replied to the girl's scream as he, himself, weaved throughout the quickly increasing number of roots. "Follow me." He instructed the mythical beast that started to mimic his moves, chasing him like a shadow in and out of the web-like roots. After escaping the winding mass and rounding one waterfall, the fairy led them back onto the top of one of the islands, landing on soft green grass. The gryffon was forced to tread carefully so that it did not crush any of the small stone statues that littered the field.
"So, Wendy, why do you think that Igneel-san and Metalicana-san fear Grandine-sama?" Ventus sat with his legs criss-crossed as his tail lightly brushing against the soft grass, his wings lying down his shoulders. Wendy pondered his question with her back pressed up next to the side of the gryffon that laid down behind her.
"She is stronger than them?" The dragon slayer thought that her mother was strong, but she knew that neither of the other dragons would be weak.
The fairy smiled slightly. "Not quite. If it was based on pure strength, Metalicana-san would definitely have the upper hand."
"Hm," The girl thought more. "Skill?"
"Not even that. Grandine-sama is more skilled in healing than fighting. I hate to admit it, but I think the fire-eaters have the most skill in combat. Their element is so unstable that they must take many years to master it and a great amount of their training is how to use it while fighting. Control is a big focus so they don't hurt people by accident." The emperor watched as the dragon slayer in front of him attempted to come up with another reason why her mother would be so feared. "Try thinking about adaptability." He waited for a few moments, giving the girl some time to think with this new information, but continued when he saw her return to his face with a confused expression. "Beyond a certain temperature, those metalheads can't use their materials anymore, they'll melt. And the flame brains can't fight once they use up all the oxygen in the air." A light bulb went off over the dragon slayer's head.
"And neither of them work underwater!" Wendy shouted as she leaned toward the fairy with a bright smile on her face that turned downward as Ventus laughed.
"Yeah, well, we don't do so great underwater either." The fairy let out a few more chuckles before he was able to regain his composure. "Using moist air, Grandine-sama is able to reduce the iron that Metalicana-san is so proud of into a pile of rust and by simply removing a single compound, she is able to make it so that Igneel-san's flames can't last a single flicker." He locked his blue eyes with the girl's brown ones. "Air isn't good for heavy hitting and is easy to deflect, so it's good to know the best way to use your opponent's weakness against them."
Wendy eyes shone brightly with admiration. 'He knows so much! I must be sure to study as hard as I can in order to pass Grandine's test!' Determination oozed out of every possible pore on the young girl.
Ventus chuckled. "Since you're so eager to get started, come with me. We have a lot of work ahead of us." The fairy stood up and began to walk through on of the thick white clouds, disappearing shortly afterwards. Wendy hopped to her feet and followed him, keeping her eyes open as her form dissipated in the white.
I still think that Ferr might be my favorite of the fairies, but it's questionable with Flam (I thought of them first and made Ventus on the fly no pun intended) Next time, we're going to see snippets of all three training, then they'll hard back for their tests. I hope you enjoyed!