Chapter 10

Carla POV

The massive dragon roared, snowy wind blowing Carla backwards. She desperately tried to flap her wings against the wind, but was blown back into the wall.

"Carla!" yelled a worried Wendy. Wendy! Carla screamed internally, since she had the air knocked out of her. She could only hopelessly watch as Wendy and Makoto tried to take on the Blizzardvern. Makoto summoned a sword and tried to take a swing at it on the left, only for it to bounce off and throw him off balance. The Blizzardvern roared and stomped on him.

"Sky Dragon Roar!" yelled Wendy as a jet of wind blasted into the Blizzardvern's eye. It groaned like a human, which Carla found weird, and retreated to the right side of the cave. Wendy ran over to Makoto to check on him.

"Are you okay?!" she urgently asked. Makoto grunted and got to his feet.

"Getting smushed under a foot isn't great," he managed to say. "Looks like the Blizzardverns weak spot is its eyes." His words made Carla think. I would make sense the only unarmored area of the creature would be vulnerable.

"I think, we lure him towards the inside of the cave, then I turn invisible and run under it and escape the cave," Started Makoto, "Then you can block the entrance to the cave, trapping it." It suddenly dawned on Carla that there was a flaw in the plan. How was she going to escape?

"What about Carla?" asked Wendy. She pointed in Carla's direction.

"You grab her while I keep the Blizzardvern busy," decided Makoto. Wendy quickly nodded and ran over to Carla.

"Are you okay Carla?" asked Wendy. She held up her hand and a blue glow appeared on it. Carla pulled Wendy's hand down.

"N-no," Carla said weakly. "You have to save your magic energy to block the cave." Bam, bam! The Blizzardvern follow

"But-" she began.

"If you don't, we'll all die," scolded Carla. Wendy creased her brows together, and sighed. She put and arm around Carla, then sprinted to the edge of the cave. A giant white tail swung in their direction, forcing Wendy to duck and tripping on a rock. Not again. Carla went fly out of the cave, and onto the snow mountainside just outside of the cave. Dust fell from the cave, hiding the caves contents.

"Wendy!" she called. Carla wasn't sure if she was okay or not. The bluenette stumbled out of the cave, shaking a few pebbles out of her hair. She stopped next to Carla and leaned forward, clearly shaken. A second figure darted out of the cave, creating a human shaped figure in the dust. Makoto materialized next to Wendy and almost tripped over Carla. He was covered in a fine layer of snow, giving the illusion that he was a walking snowman.

"Watch where you're going!" said Carla annoyed.

"Wendy, do it now please!" said Makoto. Wendy jumped in surprise.

"Right!" She took a deep breath. "Sky Dragon Roar!" A huge mound of snow 30 feet above the cave began moving, slowly, but quickly picking up speed.

"You didn't think this through," sighed Carla. "Are all the men in Fairy Tail like this?"

"Hm," said a slightly nervous Makoto, totally ignoring Carla. "We should probably move." He popped out his rocket pack and pushed off the ground. The snow was only ten feet from them now. Carla activated her wings, and grabbed the back of Wendy's shirt. They barely missed the snow as it buried any trace of the cave or the Blizzardvern ever existing.

"Well, that was more eventful then I was expecting," said Makoto with a straight face. Wendy giggled and almost caused Carla to drop her.

"Please stay still!" said Carla. She was a little annoyed at Wendy, after almost getting hurt multiple times today, not seemingly caring.

"Sorry," Wendy calmed down. "Should we land?"

"Sure," Makoto shrugged. "We have to got find the others anyways."

[One Day time skip]

Wendy POV

"Do you think Lucy will be okay?" I asked. It had been a day since we came back from , and everyone was getting ready for today's celebration. Makoto sat on a chair, tinkering with a pen. I was reading a book Levy let me borrow. It was her notes on each wizard in the guild that had joined. I wanted to get to know everyone in the guild, and this seemed like a good start.

"I mean, it looks like she caught a cold," he said. "So maybe you could try to cure her." I set down plate of tea cakes and tried to remember the spell for curing sicknesses.

"I could do it," I said. "But she would only recover tomorrow. She was really looking forward to it too." I sighed and opened the door and climbed onto the counter and looked around. The guild hall was mostly empty, aside from Gajeel, Juvia, Gray, and Carla. I hopped down, and walked to the bar. I went over to Carla, who was sipping a glass of water. She noticed me coming over and set down the water.

"Are you done?" asked Carla.

"Almost," I replied. "I wanted to go see Lucy." Carla's face lit up with understanding.

"To cure her," She hopped down and began walking towards the entrance. "If you want to see her before the hanami, we have to go!"

"Right!" I hurried on after her. It's the least I can do for her. I think to myself.

Knock, knock. I stood for a few moments in front of Lucy's apartment, at least, this is where Natsu said she lived. The door opened, to reveal a shivering Lucy covered in a white wool blanket.

"H-hey Wendy," she said with a weak smile. "What are you doing here?" She doesn't look good. Can I really do this?

"Um, I think I can cure your cold," I said uncertainly. Lucy's face suddenly lit up.

"You think you can cure me in time for the hanami?!" she asked excitedly. I quietly shook my head, slightly disappointed in myself when I was her face. "I guess that was too much to ask for. Come in." She shuffled back inside, and I looked worriedly at Carla.

"Can I really do this?" I asked.

"This was your idea," she shrugged. "You did manage to cause that avalanche." I followed after Lucy, now slightly surer in my abilities. Lucy walked down a hallway and opened a door at the end. It revealed her large room, with a queen-sized bed, desk, carpet, and a surprisingly large closet. Lucy suddenly turned around.

"How do we do this doctor?" she joked.

"Um," I hesitated. "You can lie down on your bed, face up." She did as I said and sank into her pillows. I walked forward, and started chanting a few lines. I can do this. My hands were covered in green pads, and I moved them to her lungs. She sighed in relief, but started coughing once I removed them.

"You should feel a bit worse for a few hours, but should recover by tomorrow, rather than in a week." I told her.

"Thanks," said Lucy. "You're turning into a doctor." I blushed.

"Thanks," I pointed for the door. "I'm going to go now. Hope you get better soon." I walked out of the room and got to the door, where Carla was still waiting.

"I'm done," I told her.

"Okay," Carla remarked. "Lets get back to the guild hall. That's when I remembered about the book I had left lying around, in the middle of the guild hall, and could be easily stolen….

"Wait, I forgot about my book!" I started sprinting for the guild hall. Carla quickly caught up to me.

"Why do I feel like Makoto is rubbing off on you?" she said. A few minutes later, we ran into the guild hall, and up to the table I had been sitting at. Surprisingly, he was reading the book I had left on the table. He set down the book and looked up.

"Oh hey, you're back already," he noted. I took a seat next to him.

"It took much faster than I expected," I said. "Are you reading the book Levy gave me?"

"Yeah, it is. I found it really interesting, which then led to question how she got all of this information, but then I decided to not go down that rabbit hole." He handed the book back to me. I put under my arm.

"When's the festival again?" I asked. Makoto leaned back in his chair.

"Um, at one," he responded. I looked at the clock on the wall, which read 11:25. I should get ready then.

[90 Minute time skip]

Mirajane POV

"We will now begin the traditional hanami bingo tournament!" Mira held up a bingo card.

"Bingo!" everyone cheered excitedly. Mira then noticed Natsu and Makoto hadn't said anything. Natsu was staring off into the distance, while Makoto was lying down under the cheery blossom. I wonder what they're thinking about. Normally, everyone was excited for the bingo. She turned back to the rest of the guild.

"Ho, ho hah!" Makarov chuckled. "We have some cool prizes this year! So everyone, give it your all!" Everyone cheered at his words. Mira smiled. It made her happy to see the guild all pumped.

"Is everyone ready?" she asked.

"Aye sir!" everyone cheered.

"Then please punch the center out!" Mira instructed.

"The first number is.." said Makarov, while putting his hand up to a small lacrima. The moment he did, the wheel started to spin, getting faster and faster. A few seconds later, it projected a glitter "24" into the air right above the wheel. Everyone immediately began to talk among themselves, either bragging that they got a number or that they were awing at the luck of others. A few numbers later, Elfman jumped up.

"I got the number!" he shouted. Mira smiled. Her litter brother was so funny when he did that. She glanced over at Makoto. He had sat up, and was looking intently at the wheel, but specifically the pink crystal imbedded into the wheel.

"Is something wrong?" Mira asked. Makoto slightly jumped.

"O-oh nothing," he said. He sank back down onto the blanket. Wendy crawled over to comfort him. That's sweet. She then remembered she was still running a bingo tournament.

"The next number is…" she said loudly, while moving her hand to the sensor lacrima. It began to spin, and ultimately shot out "68". "68!"

"Bingo!" yelled out Erza. Everyone gasped a little, and then began talking about her win.

"Seriously?"

"Look at her go."

"That was the first bingo Erza," Mira knew her old rival would be determined to win this. In fact, she almost won at anything. "So you get the top prize!"

"So, what's the prize?" she asked excitedly, almost like a puppy. Mira wondered how disappointed Erza was going to be when she saw the prize.

"Here it is," she said, as she put the herbs up. They had turned brown, and wilted, dropping on all sides. A horrible stench wafted from them. "It's the herbs at are rumored to boost magic power."

"What?!" Erza said in shock. Her mouth was wide open, and her eyes were as wide as saucers. "Those were the herbs we picked. What happened to them?!" She hung her head, disappointed beyond measure.

"They wilted probably because they were moved to warm climate," the guild master guessed.

"My bingo prize…" Erza mumbled. She made a grabbing gesture, then let her arms hang limply.

"Now now," Mira placated her. She felt bad for Erza. It wasn't her fault the prize had been underwhelming. Erza stood up, and walked back to her seat.

"Bingo!" Cana exclaimed excitedly. A few more numbers had gone by.

"I don't think I'll ever win," Carla stated.

"Your probably right," Wendy responded.

"And that's why I stopped trying to play bingo," Makoto added. Makoto's played bingo before? wondered Mira. Maybe he's played it somewhere else. He couldn't have played last year. Mira let that thought pass, before she spun the wheel again.

"115!" she called.

"Bingo!" Levy, Elfman, and Juvia all called at the same time.

"Huh?" said Juvia.

"Then I'll give the prize to whoever can make me laugh with a single joke," announced Makarov.

"Only one joke?" they all said in surprise.

"The prize is a pair of tickets to Akane Resort for three days and two nights," Mira added. She hoped it would incentivize the contestants to try to make Makarov laugh.

"Whoa," Levy said with awe.

"A vacation for two!?" Jet and Droy said in happiness.

"Akane resort huh?" said Elfman, his face full of determination. "I'll give it to my sister!" Mira smiled, but secretly didn't really want them. She privately decided that if Elfman won, she would just keep them, but never use them.

"Me and Gray, alone for two nights and three days?" Juvia said. Her face was completely red, and steam was coming out of her ears. "That might too much for Juvia's heart too…." her voice trailed off, as if trying to imagine what would have on that trip.

"A single gag," Gajeel suddenly said. He was sitting on a chair, wearing a low sitting white hat, and a white suit. Gajeel strung a cord. "Truly, the odds are not in their favor."

"Get outta here!" Elfman yelled. "You don't have a bingo yet!"

Natsu POV

Natsu was tired. It had been a long day, what with the celebration. But more importantly, he was still a little sad. He sat on a bench, near the canal, flipping a rock. It isn't fair. He thinks to himself. Why did Lucy have to get sick?

"What are you thinking about?" asked Makoto. Natsu glanced up.

"Hey," he mumbled. Makoto sat down next to him.

"What are you thinking about?" he asked. Natsu didn't respond, not totally sure what to say.

"I'm guessing it's about Lucy," Makoto said suddenly. Natsu jumped a little, not expecting that.

"I guess, it didn't feel fair that Lucy wasn't able to celebrate with the rest of the guild." He sighed, and looked up.

"Well, for me, she was here in spirit," said Makoto.

"Huh?" wondered Natsu.

"I mean, just because Lucy wasn't there physically, doesn't mean she isn't part of the guild."

"What does that mean?"

"The best way to explain it, is that Fairy Tail as a whole is always there, even if they aren't actually there. This guild, kind of becomes part of you, so no one is ever gone." Natsu thought about that for a moment. Fairy Tail was his family. Family never goes away.

"Thanks," Natsu grinned. Makoto smiled back, but it had a twinge of melancholy, or homesickness. Natsu could relate to that. He glanced at the Cherry Blossoms, now a colorful rainbow. Natsu made a promise to himself. Fairy Tail is my family, and I will never let it go.