"Good morning!" a fairly chipper Wendy greeted as she walked over to where I was preparing some food.
"Hey," I said, trying to not be such an ogre about not getting enough sleep.
"You know, I could cast a sleeping spell on you," Wendy said, already knowing that I was still tired.
"Maybe at some point, I was kind of hoping to see if it just sorts itself out," I said with a shrug before handing her an apple and a protein bar.
This had become our regular morning meal.
"Alright, well let me know if you change you mind," she said in her sing-songy voice.
"Did you sleep okay? It looked like maybe you were dreaming last night," I replied, remembering the odd look Wendy had had while she slept.
"Hmm… now that you mention it, I have been having some pretty funny dreams," she replied before opening the wrapper on her bar and began chewing.
I didn't get the chance for any follow up questions before we heard the sound of something in the treetops. We both looked up and were surprised to see Carla finding us this early.
"Carla!" Wendy greeted the exceed that landed beside her owner—friend? Guildmate? I have no idea what Carla is considered to be.
Natsu always just calls Happy his little buddy.
The sudden thought of Natsu sends a pang of guilt and something else that I can't describe. I just huff to myself and begin eating my own apple. I can't let thoughts of Natsu weigh me down. The whole point of this journey is so that I won't need to depend on Natsu or the others.
"This looks good!" Wendy said after she finished her bar and read the flyer.
"What's the job?" I asked, already packing my things to be able to leave once Carla started her journey back.
Carla never made a fuss, even though most of our jobs were now pretty far away from Magnolia. Wendy and I had decided we didn't want the temptation of calling others for help when jobs got difficult or put us in a tight spot.
"I got there before Mirajane or even the master arrived at the guildhall yesterday. I wanted to make sure I got to you earlier today than I normally do," Carla explained in her haughty voice.
"Thanks Carla, but who approved the mission?" I asked, trying to think of how Carla would be able to bring us this new job without anyone's approval.
"Oh, Mira told me before that I could take any job on the board since they were all within your training class," Carla continued with an audible clip in her tone.
I then watched as the exceed looked over at Wendy who was packing her own things away. Our unspoken agreement was that we didn't ask about anything at the guild if Carla didn't try and convince us—and by us, I mean Wendy—to come back.
"We'll let you know once we are close to finishing this one, but it looks like this job is taking us even farther out. Another two days by train once we get passed the mountains," Wendy said.
I could tell Carla was upset to be already done her job and to now be heading out on another day's journey back to Magnolia. Seeing her reaction every time was enough to gather what our absence was probably doing to the rest of our friends; but the uncontained voice in my head wondered if maybe Natsu and the others had gotten over it and went back to how it was before Wendy or I joined the guild. I mean, we were still two of its newest members besides Gajeel, Juvia and Kinana.
"Thanks again Carla, we will see you in a little while!" Wendy said in her still cheery voice.
It had been almost three months before Wendy wouldn't cry at the sight of Carla leaving, but the sky dragon slayer had since worked on what she had come out here to do; get stronger.
We waved at Carla who was no longer looking in our direction as she headed out in the opposite direction. We both then grabbed our bags and set out towards the mountain path which would bring us to the next town; there we would catch the train.
"So, what do we have to do for this job?" I asked Wendy who had tucked the flyer into her bag for safekeeping.
"It sounds really cool, it says that the town is being controlled by a devil or something," she said in a much too cheerful voice for what she was saying.
"What?!" I asked, taken aback by her statement.
"Come on Lucy, it can't be a real devil. It's probably a curse or something cast over the town. At the very worst it's a demon or something," Wendy said with a shrug.
"Yea, I guess you're right, I've never heard of there being such thing as a devil on Earthland," I agreed. "I mean Gray is a demon slayer and Mira uses demon particles for her she-devil form, but I've never heard of an actual devil or anything."
"Plus, I think that maybe we are ready for something new like this. Hopefully it'll give us a challenge," Wendy added.
I nodded before going into deep thought.
"You are definitely increasing your strength with your dragon attacks. Plus, you've unlocked a few more of your secret arts," I said confidently, showing my pride for her.
"Yea, we can also perform unison raid together a lot easier and you've really enhanced your hand-to-hand combat using your whip," Wendy added with her own sense of pride.
"It is nice to know that our decision is actually paying off," I said with more confidence, but still felt a tug somewhere from the pit of my stomach.
"Yea, I think we can definitely fight for ourselves now. We haven't needed anyone over the last nine months," Wendy added. "Are you thinking about wanting to go back?"
I paused, considering what Wendy was asking me. This is the first time we had ever discussed going back to Fairy Tail since we had left.
"What do you think Wendy? I mean, do you feel like our magic powers have really increased that much? I haven't even been using my star dress that much. We've really only been focused on our dual attacks and hand-to-hand combat. I mean, do you think we are really on Gray and Natsu's level?" I asked with self-doubt.
It was now Wendy's turn to pause and mull over what I was saying.
"I really do think we have increased our magic power. So, why don't we go on this job, see what we are up against and how easily we take care of it, and then we can discuss what we want to do once we're finished," Wendy suggested.
"Yea, I think that sounds good. I don't know if I'm convinced about my skills yet. But hey, if we do meet a devil and can take it out, maybe we are good enough to go back," I said, feeling more excited about this job now.
It had been a long thought-out decision between Wendy and I to separate ourselves from Team Natsu and venture out on our own away from the guild. But, after watching Natsu go off for a year and come back even more powerful than he had before, I had questioned what it would be like once we went back out on jobs. Of course, Wendy and I had both initially agreed to rejoin Natsu and the others once Fairy Tail got back together, but I had had a gnawing thought about always getting caught and the others saving me. One night, a few months after our team had reformed, Wendy had asked me what was wrong. I had confided in her about my insecurities, and was surprised to find she felt the same way. Carla was always reprimanding her, not to mention that she felt she always let everyone down. This had put our plan in motion as we considered going on our own journey. We told our teammates the following month.